No. 215. APR : 1899 





*~ R,\ I CCr ' \ f 


ENGLISH Cl 




iOIi 


HIES, 


Glasses in [English Literature, Reading, Grammar, etc* 

\y EDITED BY EMINENT ENGLISH AND AMERIOAN SOHOLARS. 

Each Volume contains a Sketch of the Author's Life, Prefatory and 
/ . c Explanatory Notes, etc., etc. , 


1 Byron's, Prophecy of Dante. 

(Cantos I. and II.) 

2 Milton's L’ Allegro, and II Pen- 

seroso. 

3 Lord Bacon’s Essays, Civil and 

Moral. (Selected.) 

4 Byron’s Prisoner of Chillon. 

5 Moore’s Fire Worshippers. 

(Lalla Rookh. Selected.) 

6 Goldsmith’s Deserted Village. 

7 Scott’s Marinion. (Selections 

from Canto VI.) 

8 Scott’s Lay of the East Minstrel. 

(Introduction and Canto I.) 

9 Burns’sCotter’sSaturdayNight, 

and other Poems. 

10 Crabbe’s The Village. 

11 Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope. 
(Abridgment of Parti.) 

12 Macaulay’s Essay on Bunyan’s 

Pilgrim’s Progress. 

13 Macaulay’s Armada, and other 
Poems. 

14 Shakespeare’s Merchant of Ve- 
nice. (Selections from Acts I., 
III., and IV.) 

15 Goldsmith’s Traveller. 

16 Hogg’s Queen’s Wake, andKil- 
meny. 

17 Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner. 

18 Addison's Sir Roger de Cover- 
ley. 

19 Gray’s Elegy in a Country 
Churchyard. 

20 Scott’s Lady of the Lake. (Canto 

I.) 

21 Shakespeare’s As You Like It, 
etc. (Selections.) 

22 Shakespeare’s King John, and 
Bichard II. (Selections.) 

23 Shakespeare’s Henry IV., Hen- 
ry V., Henry VI. (Selections.) 

24 Shakespeare’s Henry VIII., and 

Julius Caesar. (Selections.) 

26 Wordsworth’s Excursion. (Bk.I.) 

26 Pope’s Essay on Criticism. 

27 Spenser’sFaerieQueene. (Cantos 

I. and II.) 

28 Cowper’s Task. (Book I.) 

29 Milton’s Comus, 

30 Tennyson’s Enoch Arden, The 

Lotus Eaters, Ulysses, and 
Tithonus. 


Bunker Hill Ora- 


31 Irving’s Sketch Book. (Selec- 
tions.) 

32 Dickens’s Christmas Carol. 

(Condensed.) 

33 Carlyle’s Hero as a Prophet. 

34 Macaulay’s Warren Hastings. 

(Condensed.) 

35 Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wake- 
field. (Condensed.) 

36 Tennyson's The Two Voices, 
and A Dream of Fair Women. 

37 Memory Quotations. 

38 Cavalier Poets. 

39 Dryden’s Alexander’s Feast, 
and MacFlecknoe. 

40 Keats’s The Eve of St. Agnes. 

41 Irving.’s Le^ond of Sleepy Hol- 
low. 

42 Lamb’s Tales from Shake- 
speare. 

43 Le Row’s How to Teach Read- 
ing, 

44 Webster's 
tions. 

45 The Academy OrthoBpist. A 
Manual of Pronunciation. 

46 Milton’s Lycidas, and Hymn 
on the Nativity. 

47 Bryant’s Thanatopsis, and other 

Poems. 

48 Buskin’s Modern Painters. 

(Selections.) 

49 The Shakespeare Speaker. 

50 Thackeray’s Roundabout Pa- 
pers. 

51 Webster’s Oration on Adams 
and Jefferson. 

52 Brown’s Rab and his Friends. 

53 Morris’s Life and Death of 
Jason. 

54 Burke’s Speech on American 
Taxation. 

55 Pope’s Rape of the Lock. 

56 Tennyson’s Elaine. 

57 Tennyson’s In Memoriam. 

58 Church’s Story of the iEneid. 

59 Church’s Story of the Iliad. 

60 Swift’s Gulliver’s Voyage to 
Lilliput. 

61 Macaulay's Essay on Lord Ba- 
con. (Condensed.) 

62 The Alcestis of Euripides. Eng- 
lish Version by Rev. R. Potter ,M. A. 

( Additional numbers on next page.) 


MAYNARD’S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERlESr^-No. 215 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


JJ VkyCL/weO' TTW^O-^^- 

MRS. CRAIK 

it 

AUTHOR OP “JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN,” ETC. 


CONDENSED 



NEW YORK 

MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO. 

New Series No. 91. May 1, 1899. Published monthly. Subscription price $1.25. 
Entered at Post Office, New York, as Second-Class Matter. • 



A Complete Course in the Study oiHinglish 


Spelling , Language , Grammar , Composition , Literature . 


Reed’s Word Lessons— A Complete Speller. 

Reed’s Introductory Language Work. 

Reed & Kellogg’s Graded Lessons in English. 

Reed & Kellogg’s Higher Lessons in English. 

Reed & Kellogg’s One-Book Course in English. 

Kellogg & Reed’s Word Building. 

Kellogg & Reed’s The English Language. 

Kellogg’s Text-Book on Rhetoric. 

Kellogg’s Illustrations of Style. 

Kellogg’s Text-Book on English Literature. 


In the preparation of this series the authors have had one object 
clearly in view — to so develop the study of the English language as 
to present a complete, progressive course, from the Spelling-Book to 
the study of English Literature. The troublesome contradictions 
which arise in using books arranged by different authors on these 
subjects, and which require much time for explanation in the school- 
room, will be avoided by the use of the above “ Complete Course.’’ 

Teachers are earnestly invited to examine these books. 


Maynard, Merrill, & Co., Publishers, 


"WO COPIES RECEIVED. 



New York. 


Copyright, 1899. by Maynard, Merrill, & Co. 




INTRODUCTION 


Dinah Maria Muloch, afterward Mrs. Craik, was born April 20, 1826, at 
Stoke-upon-Trent, England, where her father, Thomas Muloch, was minis- 
ter to a small congregation. She early showed a taste for literature, and 
in 1846 she went to London to make literature her profession. The 
stories for children to which she at first confined herself were well received. 
“ Cola Monti,” one of the most popular of these, appeared in 1849, and in 
that year also her first novel, “ The Ogilvies,” was published. 

Encouraged by the success of “ The Ogilvies,” Miss Muloch followed 
it up with a number of other novels. Of these “ John Halifax, Gentle- 
man,” a sympathetic presentation of the ideals of English middle-class life, 
is the most popular, but probably the strongest is “A Life for a Life.” 

In 1864 a pension was given Miss Muloch in recognition of her work in 
literature, and in the same year she was married to G. L. Craik, professor 
of English Literature at Queen’s College, Belfast. 

The genuine passion of her early writings faded from the work of her 
middle-age, and was replaced by an excessive didacticism. At a later period 
Mrs. Craik returned to the fanciful tales which had employed her youth, 
and in 1874 achieved great success with “The Little Lame Prince,” a 
child’s story. In 1881 she published a volume of poems, some of which 
— such as “Philip my King,” addressed to her godson, Philip Bourke 
Marston, and “Douglas, Douglas, Tender and True” — won wide popu- 
larity. 

Mrs. Craik died suddenly, October 12,1887. “She was not a genius, 
and she does not express the ideals and aspirations of women of excep- 
tional genius; but the tender and philanthropic, and at the same time 
energetic and practical, womanhood of ordinary life has never had a 
more sufficient representative.” 



THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


CHAPTER I 

1. Yes, he was the most beautiful Prince that ever was 
born. 

Of course, being a prince, people said this; but it was 
true beside®. When he looked at the candle, his eyes had 
an expression of earnest inquiry quite startling in a new- 
born baby. His nose — there was not much of it certainly, 
but what there was seemed an aquiline shape; his com- 
plexion was a charming, healthy purple; he was round and 
fat, straight-limbed and long — in fact, a splendid baby. 

2. Everybody was exceedingly proud of him, especially 
his father and mother, the King and Queen of Komans- 
land, who had waited for him during their happy reign 
of ten years — now made happier than ever, to themselves 
and their subjects, by the appearance of a son and heir. 

3. The only person who was not quite happy was the 
King’s brother, who would have been king one day had 
the baby not been born. But as his majesty was very kind 
to him, and even rather sorry for him, the Crown-Prince, 
as he was called, tried to seem pleased also; and let us 
hope he succeeded. 

4. The Prince’s christening was to be a grand affair. 
According to the custom of the country, there were chosen 
for him four-and-twenty godfathers and godmothers, who 
each had to give him a name, and promise to do their 


6 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


utmost for him. When he came of age, he himself had 
to choose, the name — and the godfather or godmother — 
that he liked best, for the rest of his days. 

5. Meantime all was rejoicing. The Palace was clean 
“ turned out of the windows/’ as people say, with the 
preparations going on. The only quiet place in it was the 
room which, though the. Prince was six weeks old, his 
mother the Queen had never quitted. Nobody said she 
was ill, however — it would have been so inconvenient; and 
as she said nothing about it herself, but lay pale and placid, 1 
giving no trouble to anybody, nobody thought much about 
her. All the world was absorbed in admiring the baby. 

6. The christening-day came at last, and it was as lovely 
as the Prince himself. By six in the morning all the royal 
household had dressed itself in its very best; and then the 
little Prince was dressed in his best — his magnificent 
christening-robe; which proceeding his Royal Highness did 
not like at all, but kicked and screamed like any common 
baby. When he had a little calmed down, they carried 
him to be looked at by the Queen his mother, who, though 
her royal robes had been brought and laid upon the bed, 
was, as everybody well knew, quite unable to rise and put 
them on. 

7. She admired her baby very much; kissed and blessed 
him, and lay looking at him, as she did for hours some- 
times, when he was placed beside her fast asleep; then she 
gave him up with a gentle smile, and, saying she hoped he 
would be very good, that it would be a very nice christen- 
ing, and all the guests would enjoy themselves,. turned 
peacefully over on her bed, saying nothing more to any- 
body. She was a very uncomplaining person, the Queen — 
and her name was Dolorez. 


1 Placid. Peaceful. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


1 


8. Everything went on exactly as if she had been pres- 
ent. The company arrived: great and notable persons in 
this and neighboring countries; also the four-and-twenty 
godfathers and godmothers, who had been chosen with care. 

9. They came, walking two and two, with their coronets 
on their heads — being dukes and duchesses, princes and 
princesses, or the like; they all kissed the child and pro- 
nounced the name which each had given him. Then the 
four-and-twenty names were shouted out with great energy 
by six heralds, 1 one after the other, and afterward written 
down, to be preserved in the state records, in readiness for 
the next time they were wanted, which would be either on 
his Royal Highness’ coronation or his funeral. 

10. Soon the ceremony was over, and everybody satis- 
fied; except, perhaps, the little Prince himself, who moaned 
faintly under his christening robes, which nearly smoth- 
ered him. 

11. In truth, though very few knew, the Prince in com- 
ing to the chapel had met with a slight disaster. 2 His 
nurse, — not his ordinary one, but the state nurse-maid, — 
an elegant and fashionable young lady of rank, whose duty 
it was to carry him to and from the chapel, had been so 
occupied in arranging her train with one hand, while she 
held the baby with the other, that she stumbled and let him 
fall, just at the foot of the marble staircase. 

12. To be sure, she contrived to pick him up again the 
next minute; and the accident was so slight it seemed 
hardly worth speaking of. Consequently nobody did speak 
of it. The baby had turned deadly pale, but did not cry, 
so no person a step or two behind could discover anything 
wrong; afterward, even if he had moaned, the silver trum- 


i Heralds. Officers whose business it is to make announcements, 

a Disaster. Misfortune. 


8 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


pets were loud enough to drown his voice. It would have 
been a pity to let anything trouble such a day of felicity. 1 

13. So, after a minute’s pause, the procession had moved 
on. Such a procession! Heralds in blue and silver; pages 
in crimson and gold; and a troop of little girls in dazzling 
white, carrying baskets of flowers, which they strewed all 
the way before the nurse and child — finally the four-and- 
twenty godfathers and godmothers, as proud as possible, 
and so splendid to look at that they would have quite ex- 
tinguished their small godson — merely a heap of lace and 
muslin with a baby face inside — had it not been for a 
canopy of white satin and ostrich feathers which was held 
over him wherever he was carried. 

14. Thus, with the sun shining on them through the 
painted windows, they stood; the king and his train on one 
side, the Prince and his attendants on the other, as pretty 
a sight as ever was seen out of fairyland. 

15. “ It’s just like fairyland,” whispered the eldest little 
girl to the next eldest, as she shook the last rose out of her 
basket; “ and I think the only thing the Prince wants now 
is a fairy godmother.” 

16. “ Does he? ” said a shrill but soft and not unpleas- 
ant voice behind; and there was seen among the group of 
children somebody, — not a child, yet no bigger than a 
child, — somebody whom nobody had seen before, and who 
certainly had not been invited, for she had no christening 
clothes on. 

17. She was a little old woman, dressed all in gray: gray 
gown; gray hooded cloak, of a material excessively fine, 
and a tint that seemed perpetually changing, like the gray 
of an evening sky. Her hair was gray, and her eyes also 
— even her complexion had a soft gray shadow over it. 


* Felicity. Great happiness. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


9 


But there was nothing unpleasantly old about her, and her 
smile was as sweet and childlike as the Prince’s own, w T hich 
stole over his pale little face the instant she came near 
enough to touch him. 

18. “ Take care! Don’t let the baby fall again.” 

The grand young lady nurse started, flushing angrily. 

“ Who spoke to me? How did anybody know? — I mean, 

what business has anybody ” Then, frightened, but 

still speaking in a much sharper tone than I hope young 
ladies of rank are in the habit of speaking — “ Old woman, 
you will be kind enough not to say ‘ the baby,’ hut ‘ the 
Prince.’ Keep away; his Royal Highness is just going to 
sleep.” 

19. “ Nevertheless I must kiss him. I am his god- 
mother.” 

“ You! ” cried the elegant lady nurse. 

“ You! ” repeated all the gentlemen and ladies in 
waiting. 

“You!” echoed the heralds and pages' — and they be- 
gan to blow the silver trumpets in order to stop all further 
conversation. 

20. The Prince’s procession formed itself for returning, 
— the King and his train having already moved off toward 
the palace, — hut on the topmost step of the marble stairs 
stood, right in front of all, the little old woman clothed 
in gray. 

She stretched herself on tiptoe by the help of her stick, 
and gave the little Prince three kisses. 

21. “ This is intolerable! ” cried the young lady nurse, 
wiping the kisses off rapidly with her lace handkerchief. 
“ Such an insult to his Royal Highness! Take yourself out 
of the way, old woman, or the King shall be informed im- 
mediately.” 


10 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


22. “ The King knows nothing of me, more’s the pity,” 
replied the old woman, with an indifferent air, as if she 
thought the loss was more on his Majesty’s side than hers. 
“ My friend in the palace is the King’s wife.” 

“King’s have not wives, hut queens,” said the lady 
nurse, with a contemptuous air. 

23. “ You are right,” replied the old woman. “ Never- 
theless I know her Majesty well, and I love her and her 
child. And — since you dropped him on the marble stairs 
(this she said in a. mysterious whisper, which made the 
young lady tremble in spite of her anger) — I choose to take 
him for my own, and be his godmother, ready to help him 
whenever he wants me.” 

24. “ You help him! ” cried all the group, breaking into 
shouts of laughter, to which the little old woman paid 
not the slightest attention. Her soft gray eyes were fixed 
on the Prince, who seemed to answer to the look, smiling 
again and again in the causeless, aimless fashion that babies 
do smile. 

25. “ His Majesty must hear of this,” said a gentleman- 
in-waiting. 

“ His Majesty will hear quite enough news in a minute 
or two,” said the old woman sadly. And again stretching 
up to the little Prince, she kissed him on the forehead 
solemnly. 

“ Be called by a new name which nobody has ever 
thought of. Be Prince Dolor, in memory of your mother 
Dolorez.” 

26. “ In memory of! ” Everybody started at the omi- 
nous 1 phrase, and also at a most terrible breach of etiquette 
which the old woman had committed. In Nomansland, 
neither the king nor the queen was supposed to have any 


1 Ominous. Foreboding evil. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


11 


Christian name at all. They dropped it on their corona- 
tion day, and it was never mentioned again till it was en- 
graved on their coffins when they died. 

27. “ Old woman, you are exceedingly ill-bred,” cried the 
eldest lady-in-waiting, much horrified. “ How you could 
know the fact passes my comprehension. 1 But even if you 
did know it, how dared you presume to hint that her most 
gracious Majesty is called Dolorez?” 

“ W as called Dolorez,” said the old woman, with a tender 
solemnity. 

28. The first gentleman, called the Gold-stick-in-wait- 
ing, raised it to strike her, and all the rest stretched out 
their hands to seize her; but the gray mantle melted from 
between their fingers like air; and, before anybody had time 
to do anything more, there came a heavy, muffled, startling 
sound. 

29. The great bell of the palace — the bell which was 
only heard on the death of some one of the royal family, 
and for as many times as he or she was years old — began to 
toll. They listened, mute and horror-stricken. Someone 
counted: one — two — three — four — up to nine-and- twenty 
— just the Queen’s age. 

30. It was, indeed, the Queen. Her Majesty was dead! 
In the midst of the festivities 2 she had slipped away, out 
of Ler new happiness and her old sufferings, not few nor 
small. Sending away all her women to see the grand sight, 
— at least they said afterward, in excuse, that she had done 
so, and it was very like her to do it, — she had turned with 
her face to the window, whence one could just see the tops 
of the distant mountains — the Beautiful Mountains, as they 
were called — where she was born. So gazing, she had 
quietly died. 


I Comprehension. Understanding, 

a Festivities. Gayeties, merry-makings. 


12 


THE LITTLE LAME PKINCE 


31. When the little Prince was carried hack to his 
motheris room, there was no mother to kiss him. And, 
though he did not know it, there would be for him no 
motheris kiss any more. 

32. As for his godmother, — the little old woman in gray 
who called herself so, — whether she melted into air, like 
her gown when they touched it, or whether she flew out of 
the chapel window, or slipped through the doorway among 
the bewildered crowd, nobody knew — nobody ever thought 
about her. 

33. Only the nurse, the ordinary homely one, coming 
out of the Prince’s nursery in the middle of the night in 
search of a cordial to quiet his continual moans; saw, sit- 
ting in the doorway, something which she would have 
thought a mere shadow, had she not seen shining out of it 
t\to eyes, gray and soft and sweet. She put her hand be- 
fore her own, screaming loudly. When she took them 
away the old woman was gone. 


CHAPTER II 

1. It could not be said that the Prince missed his 
mother — children of his age cannot do that; but somehow 
after she died everything seemed to gO' wrong with him. 
From a beautiful baby he became sickly and pale, seeming 
to have almost ceased growing, especially in his legs; which 
had been so fat and strong. 

2. After the day of his christening they withered and 
shrank; he no longer kicked them out either in passion or 
play, and when, as he got to be nearly a year old, his nurse 
tried to make him stand upon them, he only tumbled down. 

3. This happened so many times that at last people be- 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


13 


gan to talk about it. A prince, and not able to stand on 
his own legs! What a dreadful thing! What a misfortune 
for the country! 

4. Rather a misfortune to him also, poor little boy! but 
nobody seemed to think of that. And when, after a while, 
his health revived, and the old bright look came back to 
his sweet little face, and his body grew larger and stronger, 
though still his legs remained the same, people continued 
to speak of him in whispers, and with grave shakes of the 
head. Everybody knew, though nobody said it, that some- 
thing, it was impossible to guess what, was not quite right 
with the poor little Prince. 

5. Of course, nobody hinted this to the King his father: 
it does not do to tell great people anything unpleasant. 
And besides, his Majesty took very little notice of his son, 
or of his other affairs’, beyond the necessary duties of his 
kingdom. 

6. People had said he would not miss the Queen at all, 
she having been so long an invalid, but he did. And by a 
curious coincidence, which nobody dared inquire into, he 
desired that the Prince might be called, not. by any of the 
four-and-twenty grand names given him by his godfathers 
and godmothers, but by the identical name mentioned by 
the little old woman in gray — Dolor, after his mother 
Dolorez. 

7. Once a week, according to established state custom, 
the Prince, dressed in his very best, was brought to the 
King his father for half an hour, but his Majesty was gen- 
erally too ill and too melancholy to pay much heed to the 
child. 

8. Only once, when he and the Crown-Prince, who was 
exceedingly attentive to his royal brother, were sitting to- 
gether, with Prince Dolor playing in a corner of the room, 


14 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


dragging himself about with his arms rather than his legs, 
and sometimes trying feebly to crawl from one chair to 
another, it seemed to strike the father that all was not 
right with his son. 

9. “ How old is his Royal Highness? ” said he suddenly 
to the nurse. 

“ Two years, three months, and five days, please your 
Majesty.” 

10. “ It does not please me,” said the King, with a sigh. 
“ He ought to be far more forward than he is now — ought 
he not, brother? You, who have so many children, must 
know. Is there not something wrong about him? ” 

11. “ Oh, no,” said the Crown-Prince, exchanging mean- 
ing looks with the nurse, who did not understand at all, 
but stood frightened and trembling with the tears in her 
eyes. “ Nothing to make your Majesty at all uneasy. No 
doubt his Royal Highness will outgrow it in time.” 

“ Outgrow — what? ” 

12. “ A slight delicacy — ahem! — in the spine; something 
inherited, perhaps, from his dear mother.” 

“ Ah, she was always delicate; hut she was the sweetest 
woman that ever lived. Come here, my little son.” 

13. And as the Prince turned round upon his father a 
small, sweet, grave face, — so like his mother’s, — his Maj- 
esty the King smiled and held out his arms. But when the 
boy came to him, not running like a boy, but wriggling 
awkwardly along the floor, the royal countenance clouded 
over. 

14. “ I ought to have been told of this. It is terrible — 
terrible! And for a prince too. Send for all the doctors 
in my kingdom immediately.” 

15. They came, and each gave a different opinion 
and ordered a different mode of treatment. The only 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


15 


thing they agreed in was what had been pretty well known 
before, that the Prince must have been hurt when he was 
an infant — let fall, perhaps, so as to injure his spine and 
lower limbs. 

16. After the first shock of finding out that his son could 
not walk, and seemed never likely to walk, the king inter- 
fered very little concerning him. The whole thing was 
too painful, and his Majesty never liked painful things. 
Sometimes he inquired after Prince Dolor, and they told 
him his Royal Highness was going on as well as could be 
expected, which really was the case. For, after worrying 
the poor child and perplexing themselves with one remedy 
after another, the Crown-Prince, not wishing to offend any 
of the differing doctors, had proposed leaving him to Na- 
ture; and Nature-, the safest doctor of all, had come to his 
help and done her best. 

17. He could not walk, it is true; his limbs were mere 
useless appendages to his body; but the body itself was 
strong and sound. And his face was the same as ever — 
just his mother’s face, one of the sweetest in the world. 

18. Even the King, indifferent as he was, sometimes 
looked at the little fellow with sad tenderness, noticing how 
cleverly he learned to crawl and swing himself about by 
his arms, so that in his own awkward way he was as active 
in motion as most children of his age. 

19. “ Poor little man! he does his best, and he is not 
unhappy — not half so unhappy as I, brother,” addressing 
the Crown-Prince, who was more constant than ever in his 
attendance upon the sick monarch. “ If anything should 
befall me, I have appointed you Regent. 1 In case of my 
death, you will take care of my poor little boy? ” 

20. “ Certainly, certainly; but do not let us imagine any 


i Regent. One who rules in place of another. 


16 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


such misfortune. I assure your Majesty — everybody will 
assure you — that it is not in the least likely.” 

21. He knew, however, and everybody knew, that it was 
likely, and soon after it actually did happen. The King 
died as suddenly and quietly as the Queen had done- — in- 
deed, in her very room and bed; and Prince Dolor was left 
without either father or mother — as sad a thing as could 
happen, even to a prince. 

22. He was more than that now, though. He was a 
king. In Nomansland, as in other countries, the people 
were struck with grief one day and revived the next. 
“ The king is dead — long live the king! ” was the cry that 
rang through the nation, and almost before his late Maj- 
esty had been laid beside the Queen in their splendid 
mausoleum, 1 crowds came thronging from all parts to the 
royal palace, eager to see the new monarch. 

23. They did see him, — the Prince Regent took care they 
should, — sitting on the floor of the council chamber, suck- 
ing his thumb! And when one of the gentlemen-in-wait- 
ing lifted him up and carried him — fancy carrying a king! 
— to the chair of state, and put the crown on his head, he 
shook it off again, it was so heavy and uncomfortable. 
Sliding down to the foot of the throne he began playing 
with the golden lions that supported it, stroking their paws 
and putting his tiny fingers into their eyes, and laughing — 
laughing as if he had at last found something to amuse 
him. 

24. “ There’s a fine king for you! ” said the first lord- 
in-waiting, a friend of the Prince Regent’s (the Crown- 
Prince that used to be, who, in the deepest mourning, stood 
silently beside the throne of his young nephew. He was a 
handsome man, very grand and clever-looking). “ What 


1 Mausoleum. Magnificent tomb. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


17 


a king! who can never stand to receive his subjects; never 
walk in processions, who to the last day of his life will have 
to be carried about like a baby. Very unfortunate! ” 

25. “ Exceedingly unfortunate,” repeated the second 
lord. “ It is always bad for a nation when its Icing is a 
child; but such a child — a permanent cripple, if not worse.” 

26. “ Let us hope not worse,” said the first lord in a 

very hopeless tone, and looking toward the Regent, who 
stood erect and pretended to hear nothing. “ I have heard 
that these sort of children with very large heads, and great 
broad foreheads and staring eyes, are — well, well, let us 
hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. In the 
meantime ” 

27. “ I swear,” said the Crown-Prince, coming forward 

and kissing the hilt of his sword — “ I swear to perform my 
duties as Regent, to take all care of his Royal Highness; — 
his Majesty, I mean,” with a grand bow to the little child, 
who laughed innocently back again. “ And I will do my 
humble best to govern the country. Still, if the country 
has the slightest objection ” 

28. But the Crown-Prince having the whole army at his 
beck and call, 1 so that he could have begun a civil war in 
no time, the country had, of course, not the slightest ob- 
jection. 

29. So the King and Queen slept together in peace, and 
Prince Dolor reigned over the land — that is, his uncle did; 
and everybody said what a fortunate thing it was for the 
poor little Prince to have such a clever uncle to take care 
of him. 

30. All things went on as usual; indeed, after the Re- 
gent had brought his wife and her seven sons, and estab- 
lished them in the palace, rather better than usual. For 


1 At his beck and call. At his command. 


18 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


they gave such splendid entertainments and made the 
capital so lively that trade revived, and the country was 
said to he more flourishing than it had been for a cen- 
tury. 

31. Whenever the Regent and his sons appeared, they 
were received with shouts: “ Long live the Crown-Prince! ” 
“ Long live the royal family! ” And, in truth, they were 
very fine children, the whole seven of them, and made a 
great show when they rode out together on seven beautiful 
horses, one height above another, down to the youngest, 
on his tiny black pony, no 'bigger than a large dog. 

32. As for the other child, his Royal Highness Prince 
Dolor, — for somehow people soon ceased to call him his 
Majesty, which seemed such a ridiculous title for a poor 
little fellow, a helpless cripple, — he was seen very seldom 
by anybody. 

33. Sometimes people daring enough to peer over the 
high wall of the palace garden noticed there, carried in a 
footman’s arms, or drawn in a chair, or left to play on the 
grass, often with nobody to mind him, a pretty little boy, 
with a bright, intelligent face and large, melancholy eyes 
— no, not exactly melancholy, for they were his mother’s, 
and she was by no means sad-minded, but thoughtful and 
dreamy. They rather perplexed people, those childish 
eyes; they were so exceedingly innocent and yet so pene- 
trating. If anybody did a wrong thing — told a lie, for 
instance — they would turn round with such a grave, silent 
surprise — the child never talked much — that every 
naughty person in the palace was rather afraid of Prince 
Dolor. 

34. He could not help it, and perhaps he did not even 
know it, being no better a child than many other children, 
but there was something about him which made bad peo- 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


19 


pie sorry, and grumbling people ashamed of themselves, 
and ill-natured people gentle and kind. 

35. I suppose they were touched to see a poor little 
fellow who did not in the least know what had befallen him 
or what lay before him, living his baby life as happy as the 
day is long. Thus, whether or not he was good himself, 
the sight of him and his affliction made other people good, 

"and, above all, made everybody love him — so much so, 
that his uncle the Regent began to feel a little uncom- 
fortable. 

36. He did not mean to be cruel. If anybody had called 
him so*, he would have resented it extremely: he would 
have said that what he did was done entirely for the good 
of the country. But he was a man who had always been 
accustomed to consider himself first and foremost, believ- 
ing that whatever he wanted was sure to be right, and 
therefore he ought to have it. So he tried to get it, and 
got it too, as people like him very often do. Whether 
they enjoy it when they have it is another question. 

37. Therefore he went one day to the council chamber, 
determined on making a speech, and informing the minis- 
ters and the country at large that the young King was 
in failing health, and that it would be advisable to send 
him for a time to the Beautiful Mountains. Whether he 
really meant to do this, or whether it occurred to him 
afterward that there would be an easier way of attaining 
his great desire, the crown of Nomansland, is a point which 
I cannot decide. 

38. But soon after, when he had obtained an order in 
council to send the King away, — which was done in great 
state, with a guard of honor composed of two whole regi- 
ments of soldiers, — the nation learned, without much sur- 
prise, that the poor little Prince — nobody ever called him 


20 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


king now — had gone a much longer journey than to the 
Beautiful Mountains. 

39. He had fallen ill on the road and died within a few 
hours; at least so declared the physician in attendance and 
the nurse who had been sent to take care of him. They 
brought his coffin back in great state, and buried it in the 
mausoleum with his parents. 

40. So Prince Dolor was seen no more. The country 
went into deep mourning for him, and then forgot him, 
and his uncle reigned in his stead. 


CHAPTER III 

1. And what of the little lame Prince, whom everybody 
seemed so easily to have forgotten? 

2. Not everybody. There were a few kind souls, 
mothers of families, who had heard his sad story, and some 
servants about the palace, who had been familiar with his 
sweet ways — these many a time sighed and said, “ Poor 
Prince Dolor! ” Or, looking at the Beautiful Mountains, 
which were visible all over Nomansland, though few people 
ever visited them, “ Well, perhaps his Royal Highness is 
better where he is than even there.” 

3. They did not know — indeed, hardly anybody did 
know — that beyond the mountains, between them and the 
sea, lay a tract of country, barren, level, bare, except for 
short, stunted grass, and here and there a patch of tiny 
flowers. Not a bush — not a tree — not a resting place for 
bird or beast was in that dreary plain. In summer the 
sfunshine fell upon it hour after hour with a blinding glare; 
in winter the winds and rains swept over it unhindered, 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


21 


and the snow came down steadily, noiselessly, covering it 
from end to end in one great white sheet. 

4. Not a pleasant place to live in — and nobody did live 
there, apparently. The only sign that human creatures 
had ever been near the spot was one large round tower 
which rose up in the center of the plain, and might be 
seen all over it — if there had been anybody to see, which 
there never was. Rose right up out of the ground, as if 
it had grown itself, like a mushroom. But it was not at all 
mushroom-like; on the contrary, it was very solidly built. 
It was circular, of very firm brickwork, with neither doors 
nor windows, until near the top, when you could perceive 
some slits in the wall through which one migl t possibly 
creep in or look out. Its height was nearly a hundred feet, 
and it had a battlemented 1 parapet, 2 showing sharp against 
the sky. 

5. As the plain was quite desolate — almost like a desert, 
only without sand, and led to nowhere except the still more 
desolate seacoast — nobody ever crossed it. Whatever 
mystery there was about the tower, it and the sky and the 
plain kept their secret to themselves. 

6. It was a very great secret indeed, — a state secret, — 
which none but so clever a man as the present King of 
Nomansland would ever have thought of. How he car- 
ried it out, undiscovered, I cannot tell. People said, long 
afterward, that it was by means of a gang of condemned 
criminals, who- were set to work, and executed immediately 
after they had done, so that nobody knew anything, or in 
the least suspected the real fact. 

7. And what was the fact? Why, that this tower, which 
seemed a mere mass of masonry, utterly forsaken and unin- 

1 Battlemented. Consisting of alternate open and solid spaces 

a Parapet. Wall. 


22 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


habited, was not so at all. Within twenty feet of the top 
some ingenious architect 1 had planned a perfect little 
house, divided into four rooms — as by drawing a cross 
within a circle you will see might easily be done. By mak- 
ing skylights, and a few slits in the walls for windows, and 
raising a peaked roof which was hidden by the parapet, 
here was a dwelling complete, eighty feet from the ground, 
and as inaccessible 2 as a rook’s nest on the top of a tree. 

8. A charming place to live in! if you once got up there, 
and never wanted to come down again. 

Inside — though nobody could have looked inside except 
a bird, and hardly even a bird flew past that lonely tower — 
inside it was furnished with all the comfort and elegance 
imaginable; with lots of books and toys, and everything 
that the heart of a child could desire. For its only inhabi- 
tant, except a nurse of course, was a poor solitary child. 

9. One winter night, when all the plain was white with 
moonlight, there was seen crossing it a great tall black 
horse, ridden by a man also big and equally black, carrying 
before him on the saddle a woman and a child. The 
woman — she had a sad, fierce look, and no wonder, for 
she was a criminal under sentence of death, but her sen- 
tence had been changed to almost as severe a punishment. 
She was to inhabit the lonely tower with the child, and was 
allowed to live as long as the child lived — no longer. This, 
in order that she might take the utmost care of him; for 
those who put him there were equally afraid of his dying 
and of his living. 

10. Yet he was only a little gentle boy, with a sweet, 
sleepy smile — he had been very tired with his long jour- 
ney — and clinging arms., which held tight to the man’s 


1 Ingenious Architect. Skillful builder. 

2 Inaccessible. Not to be reached. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


23 


neck, for he was rather frightened, and the face, blaGk as 
it was, looked kindly at him. And he was very helpless, 
with his poor, small shriveled legs, which could neither 
stand nor run away — for the little forlorn hoy was Prince 
Dolor. 

11. He had not been dead at all — or buried either. His 
grand funeral had been a mere pretense: a wax figure hav- 
ing been put in his place, while he himself was spirited 
away under charge of these two, the condemned woman 
and the black man. The latter was deaf and dumb, so 
could neither tell nor repeat anything. 

12. When they reached the foot of the tower, there was 
light enough to see a huge chain dangling from the para- 
pet, but dangling only halfway. The deaf-mute took from 
his saddle-wallet a sort of ladder, arranged in pieces like 
a puzzle, fitted it together, and lifted it up to meet the 
chain. Then he mounted to the top of the tower, and slung 
from it a sort of chair, in which the woman and the child 
placed themselves and were drawn up, never to come down 
again as long as they lived. Leaving them there, the man 
descended the ladder, took it to pieces again and packed 
it in his pack, mounted the horse and disappeared across 
the plain. 

13. Every month they used to watch for him, appear- 
ing like a speck in the distance. He fastened his horse to 
the foot of the tower, and climbed it, as before, laden with 
provisions and many other things. He always saw the 
Prince, so as to make sure that the child was alive and well, 
and then went away until the following month. 

14. While his first childhood lasted Prince Dolor was 
happy enough. He had every luxury that even a prince 
could need, and the one thing wanting, — love, — never hav- 
ing known, he did not miss. His nurse was very kind to 


24 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


him,, though she was a wicked woman. But either she had 
not been quite so wicked as people said, or she grew bet- 
ter through being shut up continually with a little innocent 
child who was dependent upon her for every comfort and 
pleasure of his life. 

15. It was not an unhappy life. There was nobody to 
tease or ill-use him, and he was never ill. He played about 
from room to room — there were four rooms, parlor, 
kitchen, his nurse’s bedroom, and his own; learned to crawl 
like a fly, and to jump like a frog, and to run about on all- 
fours almost as fast as a puppy. In fact, he was very much 
like a puppy or a kitten, as thoughtless and as merry — 
scarcely ever cross, though sometimes a little weary. 

16. As he grew older, he occasionally liked to be quiet 
for a while, and then he would sit at the slits of windows — 
which were, however, much bigger than they looked from 
the bottom of the tower — and watch the sky above and the 
ground below, with the storms sweeping over and the sun- 
shine coming and going, and the shadows of the clouds 
running races across the blank plain. 

17. By and by he began to learn lessons — not that his 
nurse had been ordered to teach him, but she did it partly 
to amuse herself. She was not a stupid woman, and 
Prince Dolor was by no means a stupid boy; so they got on 
very well, and his continual entreaty, “What can I do? 
what can you find me to do ? ” was stopped, at least for an 
hour or two in the day. 

18. Then he took to books, which the deaf-mute brought 
for him from time to time, and they informed him of every- 
thing in the outside world, and filled him with an intense 
longing to see it. 

19. From this time a change came over the boy. He 
began to look sad and thin, and to shut himself up for 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


25 


hours without speaking. For his nurse hardly spoke, and 
whatever questions he asked beyond their ordinary daily 
life she never answered. She had, indeed, been forbidden, 
on pain of death, to tell him anything about himself, who 
he was, or what he might have been. 

20. He knew he was Prince Dolor, because she always 
addressed him as “ My Prince ” and “ Your Royal High- 
ness,” but what a prince was he had not the least idea. 
He had no idea of anything in the world, except what he 
found in his books. 

21. He sat one day surrounded by them, having built 
them up round him like a little castle wall. He had been 
reading them half the day, but feeling all the while that to 
read about things which you never can see is like hearing 
about a beautiful dinner while you are starving. For 
almost the first time in his life he grew melancholy; his 
hands fell on his lap; he sat gazing out of the window-slit 
upon the view outside — the view he had looked at every 
day of his life, and might look at for endless days more. 

22. Not a very cheerful view, — just the plain and the 
sky, — but he liked it. He used to think, if he could only 
fly out of that window, up to the sky or down to the plain, 
how nice it would be! Perhaps when he died — his nurse 
had told him once in anger that he would never leave the 
tower till he died — he might be able to do this. Not that 
he understood much what dying meant, but it must be a 
change, and any change seemed to him a blessing. 

23. “ And I wish I had somebody to tell me all about it 
— about that and many other things; somebody that would 
be fond of me, like my poor white kitten.” 

24. Here the tears came into his eyes, for the boy’s one 
friend, the one interest of his life, had been a little white 
kitten, which the deaf-mute, kindly smiling, once took out 


26 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


of his pocket and gave him — the only living creature 
Prince Dolor had ever seen. 

25. For four weeks it was his constant plaything and 
companion, till one moonlight night it took a fancy for 
wandering, climbed on to the parapet of the tower, dropped 
over and disappeared. It was not killed, he hoped, for cats 
have nine lives; indeed, he almost fancied he saw it pick 
itself up and scamper away; hut he never caught sight of it 
more. 

26. “ Yes, I wish I had something better than a kitten 
— a person, a real live person, who would be fond of me 
and kind to me. Oh, I want somebody — dreadfully, 
dreadfully! ” 

27. As he spoke, there sounded behind him a slight tap- 
tap-tap, as of a stick or a cane, and twisting himself round, 
he saw — what do you think he saw? 

28. Nothing either frightening or ugly, but still exceed- 
ingly curious. A little woman, no bigger than he might 
himself have been had his legs grown like those of other 
children; but she was not a child — she was an old woman. 
Her hair was gray, and her dress was gray, and there was a 
gray shadow over her wherever she moved. But she had 
the sweetest smile, the prettiest hands, and when she spoke 
it was in the softest voice imaginable. 

29. “ My dear little boy,” — and dropping her cane, the 
only bright and rich thing about her, she laid those two 
tiny hands on his shoulders, — “ my own little boy, I could 
not come to you until }T)u had said you wanted me; but 
now you do want me, here I am.” 

30. “ And you are very welcome, madam,” replied the 
Prince, trying to speak politely, as princes always did in 
books; “ and I am exceedingly obliged to you. May I ask 
who you are? Perhaps my mother? ” For he knew that 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


27 


little boys usually had a mother, and had occasionally won- 
dered what had become of his own. 

31. “ No,” said the visitor, with a tender, half-sad smile, 
putting back the hair from his forehead, and looking right 
into his eyes — “ no, I am not your mother, though she was 
a dear friend of mine; and you are as like her as ever you 
can be.” 

32. “ Will you tell her to come and see me, then? ” 

“ She cannot; but I dare say she knows all about you. 
And she loves you very much — and so do I; and I want to 
help you all I can, my poor little boy.” 

“ Why do you call me poor? ” asked Prince Dolor, in 
surprise. 

33. The little old woman glanced down on his legs and 
feet, which he did not know were different from those of 
other children, and then at his sweet, bright face, which, 
though he knew not that either, was exceedingly different 
from many children’s faces, which are often so fretful, 
cross, sullen. Looking at him, instead of sighing, she 
smiled. “ I beg your pardon, my Prince,” said she. 

34. “ Yes, I am a prince, and my name is Dolor; will 
you tell me yours, madam? ” 

The little old woman laughed like a chime of silver bells. 

35. “ I have not got a name — or, rather, I have so many 
names that I don’t know which to choose. However, it 
was I who gave you yours, and you will belong to me all 
your days. I am your godmother.” 

36. “ Hurrah!” cried the little Prince; “ I am glad I 
belong to you, for I like you very much. Will you come 
and play with me? ” 

So they sat down together and played. By and by they 
began to talk. 

“ Are you very dull here? ” asked the little old woman. 


28 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


37. “ Not particularly, thank you, godmother. I have 
plenty to eat and drink, and my lessons to do, and my 
books to read — lots of books.” 

“ And you want nothing? ” 

38. “ Nothing. Yes — perhaps If you please, god- 

mother, could you bring me just one more thing? ” 

“What sort of thing?” 

“ A little boy to play with.” 

39. The old woman looked very sad. “Just the thing, 
alas! which I cannot give you. My child, I cannot alter 
your lot in any way, but I can help you to bear it.” 

“ Thank you. But why do you talk of bearing it? I 
have nothing to bear.” 

40. “My poor little man!” said the old woman in 
the very tenderest tone of her tender voice. “ Kiss 
me! ” 

“ What is kissing? ” asked the wondering child. 

41. His godmother took him in her arms and embraced 
him many times. By and by he kissed her back again — at 
first awkwardly and shyly, then with all the strength of his 
warm little heart. 

“ You are better to cuddle than even my white kitten, I 
think. Promise me that you will never go away.” 

42. “ I must; but I will leave a present behind me, — 
something as good as myself to amuse you, — something 
that will take you wherever you want to go, and show you 
all that you wish to see.” 

“What is it?” 

“ A traveling-cloak.” 

43. The Prince’s countenance fell. “ I don’t want a 
cloak, for I never go out. Sometimes nurse hoists me on 
to the roof, and carries me round by the parapet; but that 
is all. I can’t walk, you know, as she does.” 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


29 


“The more reason why you should ride; and besides, 
this traveling-cloak ” 

“ Hush! — she’s coming.” 

44. There sounded outside the room door a heavy step 
and a grumpy 1 voice, and a rattle of plates and dishes. 

“ It’s my nurse, and she is bringing my dinner; but I 
don’t want dinner at all — I only want you. Will her com- 
ing drive you away, godmother? ” 

45. “ Perhaps; but only for a little while. Never mind; 
all the bolts and bars in the world couldn’t keep me out. 
I’d fly in at the window, or down through the chimney. 
Only wish for me, and I come.” 

46. “ Thank you,” said Prince Dolor, but almost in a 
whisper, for he was very uneasy at what might happen 
next. His nurse and his godmother — what would they say 
to one another? how would they look at one another? — 
two such different faces: one harsh-lined, sullen, cross, and 
sad; the other sweet and bright and calm as a summer 
evening before the dark begins. 

47. When the door was flung open, Prince Dolor shut 
his eyes, trembling all over; opening them again, he saw 
he need fear nothing — his lovely old godmother had melted 
away just like the rainbow out of the sky, as he had 
watched it many a time. Nobody but his nurse was in the 
room. 

48. “ What a muddle your Royal Highness is sitting 
in! ” said she sharply. “ Such a heap of untidy books; and 
what’s this rubbish ? ” knocking a little bundle that lay be- 
side them. 

49. “ Oh, nothing, nothing — give it me! ” cried the 
Prince, and, darting after it, he hid it under his pinafore, 
and then pushed it quickly into his pocket. Rubbish as it 


i Grumpy. Surly. 


30 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


was, it was left in the place where she sat, and might be 
something belonging to her — his dear, kind godmother, 
whom already he loved with all his lonely, tender, passion- 
ate heart. 

50. It was, though he did not know this, his wonderful 
traveling-cloak. 


CHAPTER IY 

1. And what of the traveling-cloak? What sort of 
cloak was it, and what good did it do the Prince? 

Stay, and I ? ll tell you all about it. 

2. Outside it was the commonest-looking bundle im- 
aginable 1 — shabby and small; and the instant Prince Dolor 
touched it, it grew smaller still, dwindling down till he 
could put it in his trousers pocket, like a handkerchief 
rolled up into a ball. He did this at once, for fear his 
nurse should see it, and kept it there all day — all night, 
too. Till after his next morning’s lessons he had no oppor- 
tunity of examining his treasure. 

3. When he did, it seemed no treasure at all; but a mere 
piece of cloth — circular in form, dark green in color — 
that is, if it had any color at all, being so worn and shabby, 
though not dirty. 

4. Prince Dolor had never seen anything like it. In 
spite of his disappointment, he examined it curiously; 
spread it out on the floor, then arranged it on his shoulders. 
It felt very warm and comfortable; but it was so exceed- 
ingly shabby — the only shabby thing that the Prince had 
ever seen in his life. 

5. “ And what use will it be to me?” said he sadly. 
“ I have no need of outdoor clothes, as I never go out. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


31 


Why was this given me, I wonder? and what in the world 
am I to do with it? She must be a rather funny person, 
this dear godmother of mine.” 

6. Nevertheless, because she was his godmother, and had 
given him the cloak, he folded it carefully and put it away, 
poor and shabby as it was, hiding it in a safe corner of his 
toy cupboard, which his nurse never meddled with. He 
did not want her to find it, or to laugh at it or at his god- 
mother — as he felt sure she would, if she knew all. 

7. There it lay, and by and by he forgot all about it; nay, 
I am sorry to say that, being but a child, and not seeing her 
again, he almost forgot his sweet old godmother, or 
thought of her only as he did of the angels or fairies that 
he read of in his hooks, and of her visit as if it had been 
a mere dream of the night. 

8. But she never came, and gradually she slipped out of 
his memory — only a boy’s memory, after all; until some- 
thing happened which made him remember her, and want 
her as he had never wanted anything before. 

9. Prince Dolor fell ill. He caught — his nurse could 
not tell how — a complaint common to the people of No- 
mansland, called the doldrums, as unpleasant as measles 
or any other of our complaints; and it made him restless, 
cross, and disagreeable. Even when a little better, he was 
too weak to enjoy anything, hut lay all day long on his 
sofa, fidgeting his nurse extremely — while, in her intense 
terror lest he might die, she fidgeted him still more. At 
last, seeing he really was getting well, she left him to him- 
self — which he was most glad of, in spite of his dullness 
and dreariness. There he lay, alone, quite alone. 

10. Now and then an irritable fit came over him, in which 
he longed to get up and do something, or to go somewhere 
— would have liked to imitate his white kitten — jump 


32 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


down from the tower and run away, taking the chance of 
whatever might happen. 

11. Only one thing, alas! was likely to happen; for the 

kitten, he remembered, had four active legs, while he 

12. "I wonder what my godmother meant when she 
looked at my legs and sighed so bitterly? I wonder why I 
can’t walk straight and steady like my nurse — only I 
wouldn’t like to have her great, noisy, clumping shoes. 
Still it would be very nice to move about quickly — perhaps 
to fly, like a bird, like that string of birds I saw the other 
day skimming across the sky, one after the other.” 

13. These were the passage-birds — the only living crea- 
tures that ever crossed the lonely plain; and he had been 
much interested in them, wondering whence they came 
and whither they were going. 

14. “ How nice it must be to be a bird! If legs are no 
good, why cannot one have wings? People have wings 
when they die — perhaps; I wish I were dead, that I do. I 
am so tired, so tired; and nobody cares for me. Nobody 
ever did care for me, except perhaps my godmother. God- 
mother, dear, have you quite forsaken me? ” 

15. He stretched himself wearily, gathered himself up, 
and dropped his head upon his hands; as he did so, he felt 
somebody kiss him at the back of his neck, and, turning, 
found that he was resting, not on the sofa pillows, but on a 
warm shoulder — that of the little old woman clothed in 
gray. 

16. How glad he was to see her! How he looked into 
her kind eyes and felt her hands, to see if she were all real 
and alive! then put both his arms round her neck, and 
kissed her as if he would never have done kissing. 

17. “ Stop, stop! ” cried she, pretending to be smoth- 
ered. “ I see you have not forgotten my teachings. Kiss- 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 7 33 

ing is a good thing — in moderation. Only just let me have 
breath to speak one word.” 

“A dozen!” he said. 

18. “ Well, then, tell me all that has happened to you 
since I saw you — or, rather, since you saw me, which is 
quite a different thing.” 

“ Nothing has happened — nothing ever does happen to 
me,” answered the Prince dolefully. 1 

19. “ And are you very dull, my boy? ” 

“ So dull that I was just thinking whether I could not 
jump down to the bottom of the tower, like my white 
kitten.” 

“ Don’t do that, not being a white kitten.” 

20. “ I wish I were — I wish I were anything but what 
I am.” 

“ And you can’t make yourself any different, nor can I 
do it either. You must be content to stay just what you 
are.” 

21. The little old woman said this — very firmly, but 
gently, too — with her arms round his neck and her lips on 
his forehead. It was the first time the boy had ever heard 
anyone talk like this, and he looked up in surprise — but 
not in pain, for her sweet manner softened the hardness of 
her words. 

22. “ Now, my Prince, — for you are a prince, and must 
behave as such, — let us see what we can do; how much I 
can do for you, or show you how to do for yourself. Where 
is your traveling-cloak?” 

23. Prince Dolor blushed extremely. “ I — I put it away 
in the cupboard; I suppose it is there still.” 

“ You have never used it; you dislike it? ” 

24. He hesitated, not wishing to be impolite. “ Don’t 


» Dolefully. Sadly. 


34 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


you think it’s — just a little old and shabby for a 
prince?” 

The old woman laughed — long and loud, though very 
sweetly. 

25. “ Prince, indeed! Why, if all the princes in the 
world craved for it, they couldn’t get it, unless I gave it 
them. Old and shabby! It’s the most valuable thing im- 
aginable! Very few ever have it; but I thought I would 
give it to you, because — because you are different from 
other people.” 

26. “ Am I?” said the Prince, and looked first with 
curiosity, then with a sort of anxiety, into his godmother’s 
face, which was sad and grave, with slow tears beginning to 
steal down. 

She touched his poor little legs. “ These are not like 
those of other little boys.” 

27. “ Indeed! — my nurse never told me that.” 

“ Very likely not. But it is time you were told; and I 
tell you, because I love you.” 

“ Tell me what, dear godmother? ” 

28. “ That you will never be able to walk or run or jump 
or play — that your life will be quite different from most 
people’s lives; but it may be a very happy life for all that. 
Do not be afraid.” 

29. “ I am not afraid,” said the boy; but he turned very 
pale, and his lips began to quiver, though he did not actu- 
ally cry — he was too old for that, and, perhaps, too proud. 

30. Though not wholly comprehending, he began dimly 
to guess what his godmother meant. He had never seen 
any real live boys, but he had seen pictures of them run- 
ning and jumping; which he had admired and tried hard 
to imitate, but always failed. Now he began to understand 
why he failed, and that he always should fail — that, in fact, 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


35 


he was not like other little boys; and it was of no use his 
wishing to do as they did, and play as they played, even if 
he had had them to play with. His was a separate life, in 
which he must find out new work and new pleasures for 
himself. 

31. The sense of the inevitable , as grown-up people call 
it — that we cannot have things as we want them to be, but 
as they are, and that we must learn to bear them and make 
the best of them — this lesson, which everybody has to learn 
soon or late — came, alas! sadly soon, to the poor boy. He 
fought against it for a while, and then, quite overcome, 
turned and sobbed bitterly in his godmother’s arms. 

32. She comforted him — I do not know how, except that 
love always comforts; and then she whispered to him, in 
her sweet, strong, cheerful voice: “ Never mind!” 

“ Ho, I don’t think I do mind — that is, I won’t mind,” 
replied he, catching the courage of her tone and speaking 
like a man, though he was still such a mere boy. 

33. “ That is right, my Prince! — that is being like a 

prince. Now we know exactly where we are; let us put 
our shoulders to the wheel and ” 

“ We are in Hopeless Tower ” (this was its name, if it 
had a name), “ and there is no wheel to put our shoulders 
to,” said the child sadly. 

34. “ You little matter-of-fact goose! Well for you that 

you have a godmother called ” 

“ What? ” he eagerly asked. 

“ Stuff-and-nonsense ” 

“ Stuff-and-nonsense! What a funny name! ” 

35. “ Some people give it me, hut they are not my most 
intimate friends. These call me— never mind what,” 
added the old woman, with a soft twinkle in her eyes. “ So 
as you know me, and know me well, you may give me any 


36 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


name you please; it doesn’t matter. But I am your god- 
mother, child. I have few godchildren; those I have love 
me dearly, and find me the greatest blessing in all the 
world.” 

36. “ I can well believe it,” cried the little lame Prince, 
and forgot his troubles in looking at her — as her figure 
dilated, her eyes grew lustrous as stars, her very raiment 
brightened, and the whole room seemed filled with her 
beautiful and beneficent presence like light. 

37. He could have looked at her forever — half in love, 
half in awe; but she suddenly dwindled down into the little 
old woman all in gray, and asked for the traveling-cloak. 

38. “ Bring it out of the rubbish cupboard, and shake 
the dust off it, quick! ” said she to Prince Dolor, who hung 
his head, rather ashamed. “ Spread it out on the floor, 
and wait till the split closes and the edges turn up like a 
rim all round. Then go and open the skylight, — mind I 
say open the skylight, — set yourself down in the middle of 
it, like a frog on a water-lily leaf; say ‘ Abracadabra, dum 
dum dum,’ and — see what will happen! ” 

39. The Prince burst into a fit of laughing. It all 
seemed so exceedingly silly; he wondered that a wise old 
woman like his godmother should talk such nonsense. 

40. “ Stuff-and-nonsense, you mean,” said she, answer- 
ing, to his great alarm, his unspoken thoughts. “ Did I 
not tell you some people called me by that name? Never 
mind; it doesn’t harm me.” 

41. And she laughed — her merry laugh — as childlike as 
if she were the Prince’s age instead of her own, whatever 
that might be. She certainly was a most extraordinary old 
woman. 

42. “ Believe me or not, it doesn’t matter,” said she. 
“ Here is the cloak: when you want to go traveling on it, 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


37 


say Abracadabra, dum dum dum; when you want to come 
back again, say Abracadabra, turn turn ti. That’s all; 
good-by.” 

43. A puff of pleasant air passing by him, and making 
him feel for the moment quite strong and well, was all the 
Prince was conscious of. His most extraordinary god- 
mother was gone. 

44. “ Really now, how rosy your Royal Highness’ cheeks 
have grown! You seem to have got well already,” said 
the nurse, entering the room. 

“ I think I have,” replied the Prince very gently — he 
felt gently -and kindly even to his grim nurse. “ And now 
let me have my dinner, and go you to your sewing as 
usual.” 

45. The instant she was gone, however, taking with her 
the plates and dishes, which for the first time since his 
illness he had satisfactorily cleared, Prince Dolor sprang 
down from his sofa, and with one or two jumps reached the 
cupboard where he kept his toys, and looked everywhere 
for his traveling-cloak. 

Alas! it was not there. 

46. While he was ill of the doldrums, his nurse, think- 
ing it a good opportunity for putting things to rights, had 
made a grand clearance of all his “ rubbish ” — as she con- 
sidered it: his beloved headless horses, broken carts, sheep 
without feet, and birds without wings — all the treasures of 
his baby days, which he could not bear to part with. 
Though he seldom played with them now, he liked just to 
feel they were there. 

47. They were all gone! and with them the traveling- 
cloak. He sat down on the floor, looking at the empty 
shelves, so beautifully clean and tidy, then burst out sob- 
bing as if his heart would break. 


38 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


But quietly — always quietly. He never let his nurse 
hear him cry. She only laughed at him, as he felt she 
would laugh now. 

48. “ And it is all my own fault! ” he cried. “ I ought 
to have taken better care of my godmother’s gift. Oh, 
godmother, forgive me! I’ll never be so careless again. 
I don’t know what the cloak is exactly, hut I am sure it is 
something precious. Help me to find it again. Oh, don’t 
let it be stolen from me — don’t, please! ” 

49. “ Ha, ha, ha! ” laughed a silvery voice. “ Why, that 
traveling-cloak is the one thing in the world which nobody 
can steal. It is of no use to anybody except the owner. 
Open your eyes, my Prince, and see what you shall see.” 

50. His dear old godmother, he thought, and turned 
eagerly round. But no; he only beheld, lying in a corner 
of the room, all dust and cobwebs, his precious traveling- 
cloak. 

51. Prince Dolor darted toward it, tumbling several 
times on the way, as he often did tumble, poor boy! and 
pick himself up again, never complaining. Snatching it 
to his breast, he hugged and kissed it, cobwebs and all, as 
if it had been something alive. Then he began unrolling 
it, wondering each minute what would happen. 


CHAPTER V 

1. When Prince Dolor had patiently untied all the 
knots, a remarkable thing happened. The cloak began to 
undo itself. Slowly unfolding, it laid itself down on the 
carpet, as flat as if it had been ironed; the split joined with 
a little sharp crick-crack, and the rim turned up all round 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


39 


till it was breast-high; for meantime the cloak had grown 
and grown, and become quite large enough for one person 
to sit in it as comfortable as if in a boat. 

2. The Prince watched it rather anxiously; it was such 
an extraordinary, not to say a frightening, thing. How- 
ever, he was no coward, but a thorough boy, who, if he had 
been like other boys, would doubtless have grown up dar- 
ing and adventurous — a soldier, a sailor, or the like. As 
it was, he could only show his courage morally, not physi- 
cally, by being afraid of nothing, and by doing boldly all 
that it was in his narrow powers to do. And I am not sure 
but that in this way he showed more real valor than if he 
had had six pairs of proper legs. 

3. He said to himself: “ What a goose I am! As if my 
dear godmother would ever have given me anything to hurt 
me. Here goes! ” 

So, with one of his active leaps, he sprang right into the 
middle of the cloak, where he squatted down, wrapping his 
arms tight round his knees, for they shook a little and his 
heart beat fast. But there he sat, steady and silent, wait- 
ing for what might happen next. 

4. Nothing did happen, and he began to think nothing 
would, and to feel rather disappointed, when he recollected 
the words he had been told to repeat — “ Abracadabra, dum 
dum dum! ” 

He repeated them, laughing all the while, they seemed 
such nonsense. And then — and then 

5. The cloak rose, slowly and steadily, at first only a few 
inches, then gradually higher and higher, till it nearly 
touched the skylight. Prince Dolor’s head actually 
bumped against the glass, or would have done so had he 
not crouched down, crying “ Oh, please don’t hurt me! ” 
in a most melancholy voice. 


40 


The little lame prince 


Then he suddenly remembered his godmother’s express 
command — “ Open the skylight! ” 

6. Regaining his courage at once, without a moment’s 
delay he lifted up his head and began searching for the 
bolt — the cloak meanwhile remaining perfectly still, bal- 
anced in the air. But the minute the window was opened, 
out it sailed — right out into the clear, fresh air, with noth- 
ing between it and the cloudless blue, and the little lame 
Prince found himself for the first time in the pure open air, 
with the sky above him and the earth below. 

7. True, there was nothing but earth and sky; no houses, 
no trees, no rivers, mountains, seas — not a beast on the 
ground, or a bird in the air. But to him even the level 
plain looked beautiful; and then there was the glorious 
arch of the sky, with a little young moon sitting in the 
west like a baby queen. And the evening breeze was so 
sweet and fresh — it kissed him like his godmother’s kisses; 
and by and by a few stars came out — first two or three, and 
then quantities — quantities! so that when he began to 
count them he was utterly bewildered. 

8. By this time, however, the cool breeze had become 
cold; the mist gathered; and as he had, as he said, no 
outdoor clothes, poor Prince Dolor was not very com- 
fortable. The dews fell damp on his curls — he began to 
shiver. 

“ Perhaps I had better go home,” thought he. 

9. But how? For in his excitement the other words 
which his godmother had told him to use had slipped his 
memory. They were only a little different from the first, 
but in that slight difference all the importance lay. As 
he repeated his “ Abracadabra,” trying ever so many other 
syllables after it, the cloak only went faster and faster, 
skimming on through the dusky, empty air. 


the little lame prince 


41 


10. The poor little Prince began to feel frightened. 
What if his wonderful traveling-cloak should keep on thus 
traveling, perhaps to the world’s end, carrying with it a 
poor, tired, hungry boy, who, after all, was beginning to 
think there was something very pleasant in supper and 
bed! 

“ Dear godmother,” he cried pitifully, “do help me! 
Tell me just this once and I’ll never forget again.” 

11. Instantly the words came rushing into his head — 
“ Abracadabra, turn turn ti! ” Was that it? Ah! yes — for 
the cloak began to turn slowly. He. repeated the charm 
again, more distinctly and firmly, when it gave a gentle 
dip, like a nod of satisfaction, and immediately started 
back, as fast as ever, in the direction of the tower. 

12. He reached the skylight, which he found exactly as 
he had left it, and slipped in, cloak and all, as easily as he 
had got out. He had scarcely reached the floor, and was 
still sitting in the middle of his traveling-cloak, — like a 
frog on a water-lily leaf, as his godmother had expressed 
it, — when he heard his nurse’s voice outside. 

13. “ Bless us! what has become of your Eoyal Highness 
all this time? To sit stupidly here at the window till it is 
quite dark, and leave the skylight open, too. Prince! what 
can you be thinking of? You are the silliest boy I ever 
knew.” 

“ Am I? ” said he absently, and never heeding her cross- 
ness; for his only anxiety was lest she might find out any- 
thing. 

14. She would have been a very clever person to have 
done so. The instant Prince Dolor got off it, the cloak 
folded itself up into the tiniest possible parcel, tied all its 
own knots, and rolled itself of its own accord into the 
farthest and darkest corner of the room. If the nurse had 


42 


Till? LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


seen it, which she didn’t, she would have taken it for a 
mere bundle of rubbish not worth noticing. 

15. Shutting the skylight with an angry bang, she 
brought in the supper and lit the candles with her usual 
unhappy expression of countenance. But Prince Dolor 
hardly saw it; he only saw, hid in the comer where nobody 
else would see it, his wonderful traveling-cloak. And 
though his supper was not particularly nice, he ate it 
heartily, scarcely hearing a word of his nurse’s grumbling, 
which to-night seemed to have taken the place of her sul- 
len silence. 

16. “ Poor woman!” he thought, when he paused a 
minute to listen and look at her with those quiet, happy 
eyes, so like his mother’s. “ Poor woman! she hasn’t got a 
traveling-cloak! ” 

17. And when he was left alone at last, and crept into 
his little bed, where he lay awake a good while, watching 
what he called his “ sky-garden,” all planted with stars, 
like flowers, his chief thought was — “ I must be up very 
early to-morrow morning, and get my lessons done, and 
then I’ll go traveling all over the world on my beautiful 
cloak.” 

18. So next day he opened his eyes with the sun, and 
went with a good heart to his lessons. They had hitherto 
been the chief amusement of his dull life; now, I am afraid, 
he found them also a little dull. But he tried to be good, — 
I don’t say Prince Dolor always was good, but he generally 
tried to be, — and when his mind went wandering after the 
dark, dusty corner where lay his precious treasure, he reso- 
lutely called it back again. 

19. “ For,” he said, “ how ashamed my godmother would 
be of me if I grew up a stupid boy! ” 

But the instant lessons were done, and he was alone in 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


43 


the empty room, he crept across the floor, undid the shabby 
little bundle, his fingers trembling with eagerness, climbed 
on the chair, and thence to the table, so as to unbar the 
skylight, — he forgot nothing now, — said his magic charm, 
and was away out of the window, as children say, “ in a few 
minutes less than no time.” 

20. Nobody missed him. He was accustomed to sit 
so quietly always that his nurse, though only in the next 
room, perceived no difference. And besides, she might 
have gone in and out a dozen times, and it would have been 
just the same; she never could have found out his absence. 

21. For what do you think the clever godmother did? 

She took a quantity of moonshine, or some equally con- 
venient material, and made an image, which she set on the 
window-sill reading, or by the table drawing, where it 
looked so like Prince Dolor that any common observer 
would never have guessed the deception; and even the boy 
would have been puzzled to know which was the image and 
which was himself. / 

22. And all this while the happy little fellow was away, 
floating in the air on his magic cloak, and seeing all sorts 
of wonderful things — or they seemed wonderful to him, 
who had hitherto seen nothing at all. 

23. First, there were the flowers that grew on the plain, 
which, whenever the cloak came near enough, he strained 
his eyes to look at; they were very tiny, but very beautiful 
— white saxifrage, 1 and yellow lotus, 2 and ground-thistles, 
purple and bright, with many others the names of which 
I do not know. 

24. “ I wonder,” he thought, “ whether I could see bet- 
ter through a pair of glasses like those my nurse reads with, 


i Saxifrage. A plant growing in crevices of rocks in mountainous places, 

a Lotus. A kind of water lily. 


44 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


and takes such care of. How I would take care of them, 
too, if I only had a pair! ” 

25. Immediately he felt something queer and hard fix- 
ing itself to the bridge of his nose. It was a pair of the 
prettiest gold spectacles ever seen; and looking downward, 
he found that, though ever so high above the ground, he 
could see every minute blade of grass, every tiny bud and 
flower — nay, even the insects that walked over them. 

26. “ Thank you, thank you!” he cried, in a gush of 
gratitude — to anybody or everybody, but especially to his 
dear godmother, who he felt sure had given him this new 
present. He amused himself with it for ever so long, with 
his chin pressed on the rim of the cloak, gazing down upon 
the grass, every square foot of which was a mine of wonders. 

27. Then, just to rest his eyes, he turned them up to 
the sky — the blue, bright, empty sky, which he had looked 
at so often and seen nothing. 

28. Now surely there was something. A long, black, 
wavy line, moving on in the distance, not by chance, as 
the clouds move apparently, but deliberately, as if it were 
alive. He might have seen it before — he almost thought 
he had; but * then he could not tell what it was. 
Looking at it through his spectacles, he discovered that 
it really was alive; being a long string of birds, flying 
one after the other, their wings moving steadily and their 
heads pointed in one direction, as steadily as if each were 
a little ship, guided invisibly by an unerring helm. 

29. “ They must be the passage-birds flying seaward! ” 
cried the boy, who had read a little about them, and had 
a great talent for putting two and two together and find- 
ing out all he could. 

30. “ Oh, I wish I were going with you, you lovely crea- 
tures! Fm getting so tired of this dull plain, and the 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


45 


dreary and lonely tower. I do so want to see the world! 
Pretty swallows, dear swallows! tell me what it looks like 
— the beautiful, wonderful world! ” 

31. But the swallows flew past him — steadily, slowly 
pursuing their course as if inside each little head had been 
a mariner’s compass, 1 to guide them safe over land and 
sea, direct to the place where they desired to go. 

32. The boy looked after them with envy. For a long 
time he followed with his eyes the faint, wavy black line 
as it floated away, sometimes changing its curves a little, 
but never deviating from its settled course, till it vanished 
entirely out of sight. 

Then he settled himself down in the center of the cloak, 
feeling quite sad and lonely. 

33. “ I think I’ll go home,” said he, and repeated his 
“ Abracadabra, turn turn ti! ” with a rather heavy heart. 
So he went back to his lonely tower, and spent three days in 
silent melancholy, without even attempting another jour- 
ney on his traveling-cloak. 

CHAPTER VI 

1. The fourth day it happened that the deaf-mute paid 
his accustomed visit, after which Prince Dolor’s spirits rose. 
They always did when he got the new books which, just to 
relieve his conscience, the King of Komansland regularly 
sent to his nephew; with many new toys also, though the 
latter were disregarded now. 

2. “ Toys, indeed! when I’m a big boy,” said the Prince, . 
with disdain, and would scarcely condescend to mount a 
rocking-horse which had come, somehow or other, — I can’t 

1 Mariner’s compass. An instrument for telling directions on the earth’s 
surface. 


46 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


be expected to explain things very exactly, — packed on the 
back of the other, the great black horse, which stood and 
fed contentedly at the bottom of the tower. 

3. Prince Dolor leaned over and looked at it, and 
thought how grand it must be to get upon its back — this 
grand live steed — and ride away, like the pictures of 
knights. 

4. “ Suppose I was a knight,” he said to himself; “ then 
I should be obliged to ride out and see the world. What 
a lot of things there are that I should like to do! But 
first I should like to go and see the world. I’ll try.” 

5. Hitherto, in all his journeys, he had never let himself 
go out of sight of home, for the dreary building, after all, 
was home — he remembered no other; but now he felt 
sick of the very look of his tower, with its round smooth 
walls and level battlements. 

6. “ Off we go! ” cried he, when the cloak stirred itself 
with a slight, slow motion, as if waiting his orders. “ Any- 
where — anywhere, so that I am away from here, and out 
into the world.” 

7. As he spoke, the cloak, as if seized suddenly with a 
new idea, bounded forward and went skimming through 
the air, faster than the very fastest railway train. 

8. Through his wonderful spectacles the Prince could 
see everything, but it was a silent picture; he was too high 
up to catch anything except a faint murmur, which only 
aroused his anxiety to hear more. 

9. “I have as good as two pairs of eyes,” he thought. 
“ I wonder if my godmother would give me a second pair 
of ears.” 

10. Scarcely had he spoken than he found lying on his 
lap the most curious little parcel, all done up in silvery 
paper. And it contained — what do you think? Actually 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


47 


a pair of silver ears, which, when he tried them on, fitted 
so exactly over his own that he hardly felt them, except 
for the difference they made in his hearing. 

11. There is something which we listen to daily and 
never notice. I mean the sounds of the visible world, ani- 
mate and inanimate. Winds blowing, waters flowing, trees 
stirring, insects whirring (dear me! I am quite uncon- 
sciously writing rhyme), with the various cries of birds and 
beasts, — lowing cattle, bleating sheep, grunting pigs, and 
cackling hens, — all the infinite discords that somehow or 
other make a beautiful harmony. 

12. We hear this, and are so accustomed to it that we 
think nothing of it; but Prince Dolor, who had lived all his 
days in the dead silence of Hopeless Tower, heard it for the 
first time. And oh! if you had seen his face. 

13. He listened, listened, as if he could never have done 
listening. And he looked and looked, as if he could not 
gaze enough. Above all, the motion of the animals de- 
lighted him: cows walking, horses galloping, little lambs 
and calves running races across the meadows, were such a 
treat for him to watch — he that was always so quiet. But, 
these creatures having four legs, and he only two, the differ- 
ence did not strike him painfully. 

14. Still, by and by, after the fashion of children, — and, 
I fear, of many big people too, — he began to want some- 
thing more than he had, something that would be quite 
fresh and new. 

15. “ Godmother/’ he said, having now begun to believe 
that, whether he saw her or not, he could always speak to 
her with full confidence that she would hear him — “ God- 
mother, all these creatures I like exceedingly; but I should 
like better to see a creature like myself. Couldn’t you 
show me just one little boy? ” 


48 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


16. There was a sigh behind him, — it might have been 

only the wind, — and the cloak remained so long balanced 
motionless in air that he was half afraid his godmother had 
forgotten him, or was offended with him for asking too 
much. Suddenly a shrill whistle startled him, even 
through his silver ears, and looking downward, he saw start 
up from behind a bush on a common, something 

17. Neither a sheep nor a horse nor a cow — nothing 
upon four legs. This creature had only two; but they were 
long, straight, and strong. And it had a lithe, active body, 
and a curly head of black hair set upon its shoulders. It 
was a boy, a shepherd-boy, about the Prince’s own age 1 — 
but, oh! so different. 

18. Not that he was an ugly boy — though his face was 
almost as red as his hands, and his shaggy hair matted like 
the backs of his own sheep. He was rather a nice-looking 
lad; and seemed so bright and healthy and good-tem- 
pered that the little Prince watched him with great ad- 
miration. 

19. Stretching himself, for he had been evidently half 
asleep, the boy began flopping his shoulders with his arms, 
to wake and warm himself; while his dog, a rough collie, 1 
who had been guarding the sheep meanwhile, began to 
jump upon him, barking with delight. 

20. “Down, Snap, down! Stop that, or I’ll thrash 
you,” the Prince heard him say; though with such a rough, 
hard voice and queer pronunciation that it was difficult to 
make the words out. “ Hollo! Let’s warm ourselves by a 
race.” 

21. They started off together, boy and dog — barking and 
shouting, till it was doubtful which made the more noise 
or ran the faster. They did not seem to have anything to 


Collie. Shepherd dog. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


49 


run for — but as if they did it, both of them, for the mere 
pleasure of motion. 

22. And what a pleasure that seemed! To the dog of 
course, but scarcely less so to the boy. How he skimmed 
along over the ground — his cheeks glowing, and his hair 
flying, and his legs — oh, what a pair of legs he had! 

23. Prince Dolor watched him with great intentness, and 
in a state of excitement almost equal to that of the runner 
himself — for a while. Then the sweet, pale face grew a 
trifle paler, the lips began to quiver, and the eyes to fill. 

“ How nice it must be to run like that! ” he said softly, 
thinking that never — no, never in this world — would he be 
able to do the same. 

24. Now he understood what his godmother had meant 
when she gave him his traveling-cloak, and why he had 
heard that sigh — he was sure it was hers — when he had 
asked to see “ just one little boy.” 

25. “ I think I had rather not look at him again,” said 
the poor little Prince, drawing himself back into the center 
of his cloak, and resuming his favorite posture, sitting like 
a Turk, with his arms wrapped round his feeble, useless 
legs. 

26. Prince Dolor sat a good while thus, or it appeared 
to him a good while, so many thoughts came and went 
through his poor young mind — thoughts of great bitter- 
ness, which, little though he was, seemed to make him grow 
years older in a few minutes. 

27. Then he fancied the cloak began to rock gently to 
and fro, with a soothing kind of motion, as if he were in 
somebody’s arms: somebody who did not speak, but loved 
him and comforted him without need of words; not by de- 
ceiving him with false encouragement or hope, but by mak- 
ing him see the plain, hard truth in all its hardness, and 


50 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


thus letting him quietly face it, till it grew softened down, 
and did not seem nearly so dreadful after all. 

28. Through the dreary silence and blankness, for he 
had placed himself so that he could see nothing but the 
sky, and had taken off his silver ears as well as his gold 
spectacles — what was the use of either when he had no 
legs with which to walk or run? — up from below there rose 
a delicious sound. 

29. You have heard it hundreds of times, my children, 
and so have I. When I was a child I thought there was 
nothing so sweet; and I think so still. It was just the song 
of a skylark, mounting higher and higher from the ground, 
till it came so close that Prince Dolor could distinguish his 
quivering wings and tiny body, almost too tiny to contain 
such a gush of music. 

30. “ Oh, you beautiful, beautiful bird! ” cried he; “ I 
should dearly like to take you in and cuddle you. That 
is, if I could — if I dared.” 

But he hesitated. The little brown creature with its 
loud heavenly voice almost made him afraid. Neverthe- 
less, it also made him happy; and he watched and listened 
— so absorbed that he forgot all regret and pain, forgot 
everything in the world except the little lark. 

31. It soared and soared, and he was just wondering if 
it would soar out of sight, and what in the world he should 
do when it was gone, when it suddenly closed its wings, as 
larks do when they mean to drop to the ground. But, in- 
stead of dropping to the ground, it dropped jight into the 
little boy’s breast. 

32. What felicity! If it would only stay! A tiny, soft 
thing to fondle and kiss, to sing to him all day long, and 
be his playfellow and companion, tame and tender, while 
to the rest of the world it was a wild bird of the air. What 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


51 


a pride, what a delight! To have something that nobody 
else had — something all his own. As the traveling-cloak 
traveled on, he little heeded where, and the lark still stayed, 
nestled down in his bosom, hopped from his hand to his 
shoulder, and kissed him with its dainty beak, as if it loved 
him, Prince Dolor forgot all his grief, and was entirely 
happy. 

33. But when he got in sight of Hopeless Tower a pain- 
ful thought struck him. 

“ My pretty bird, what am I to do with you? If I take 
you into my room and shut you up there, you, a wild sky- 
lark of the air, what will become of you? I am used to 
this, but you are not. You will be so miserable; and sup- 
pose my nurse should find you — she who can’t bear the 
sound of singing? Besides, I remember her once telling 
me that the nicest thing she ever ate in her life was lark 
pie! ” 

34. The little boy shivered all over at the thought. 
And, though the merry lark immediately broke into the 
loudest carol, as if saying derisively that he defied anybody 
to eat him , still Prince Dolor was very uneasy. In another 
minute he had made up his mind. 

35. “ No, my bird, nothing so dreadful shall happen to 
you if I can help it; I would rather do without you alto- 
gether. Yes, I’ll try. Fly away, my darling, my beauti- 
ful! Good-by, my merry, merry bird.” 

36. Opening his two caressing hands, in which, as if for 
protection, he had folded it, he let the lark go. It lingered 
a minute, perching on the rim of the cloak, and looking at 
him with eyes of almost human tenderness; then away it 
flew, far up into the blue sky. It was only a bird. 

37. But some time after, when Prince Dolor had eaten 
his supper — somewhat drearily, except for the thought that 


52 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


he could not possibly sup off lark pie now — and gone 
quietly to bed, the old familiar little bed, where he was 
accustomed to sleep, or lie awake contentedly thinking — 
suddenly he heard outside the window a little faint carol — 
faint but cheerful — cheerful even though it was the mid- 
dle of the night. 

38. The dear little lark! it had not flown away, after all. 
And it was truly the most extraordinary bird, for, unlike 
ordinary larks, it kept hovering about the tower in the 
silence and darkness of the night, outside the window or 
over the roof. Whenever he listened for a moment, he 
heard it singing still. 


CHAPTER VII 

1. After his last journey in the traveling-cloak, the 
journey which had given him so much pain, Prince Dolor’s 
desire to see the world somehow faded away. He con- 
tented himself with reading his books, and looking out of 
the tower windows, and listening to his beloved little lark, 
which had come home with him that day, and never left 
him again. 

2. True, it kept out of the way; and though his nurse 
sometimes dimly heard it, and said “ What is that horrid 
noise outside ? ” she never got the faintest chance of mak- 
ing it into a lark pie. Prince Dolor had his pet all to him- 
self, and though he seldom saw it, he knew it was near him, 
and he caught continually, at odd hours of the day, and 
even in the night, fragments of its delicious song. 

3. All during the winter — so far as there ever was any 
difference between summer and winter in Hopeless Tower 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


53 


— the little bird cheered and amused him. He scarcely 
needed anything more — not even his traveling-cloak, which 
lay bundled up unnoticed in a corner, tied up in its in- 
numerable knots. 

4. Nor did his godmother come near him. It seemed as 
if she had given these treasures and left him alone — to use 
them or lose them, apply them or misapply them, according 
to his own choice. That is all we can do with children 
when they grow into big children old enough to distinguish 
between right and wrong, and too old to be forced to do 
either. 

5. Prince Dolor was now quite a big boy. Not tall — 
alas! he never could be that, with his poor little shrunken 
legs, which were of no use, only an encumbrance. But he 
was stout and strong, with great sturdy shoulders, and 
muscular arms, upon which he could swing himself about 
almost like a monkey. As if in compensation for his use- 
less lower limbs, Nature had given to these extra strength 
and activity. His face, too, was very handsome; thinner, 
firmer, more manly; but still the sweet face of his child- 
hood — his mother’s own face. 

6. How his mother would have liked to look at him! 
Perhaps she did — who knows? 

7. The boy was not a stupid boy either. He could learn 
almost anything he chose — and he did choose, which was 
more than half the battle. He never gave up his lessons 
till he had learned them all — never thought it a punish- 
ment that he had to work at them, and that they cost him 
a deal of trouble sometimes. 

8. “But,” thought he, “men work, and it must be so. 
grand to be a man — a prince too; and I fancy princes work 
harder than anybody — except kings. The princes I read 
about generally turn into kings, I wonder ” — the boy was 


54 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


always wondering — “ Nurse/’ — and one day he startled her 
with a sudden question , — “ tell me — shall I ever be a 
king? ” 

9. The woman stood, perplexed beyond expression. So 
long a time had passed by since her crime — if it were a 
crimes — and her. sentence, that she now seldom thought of 
either. Even her punishment — to be shut up for life in 
Hopeless Tower — she had gradually got used to. Used 
also to the little lame Prince, her charge — whom at first she 
had hated, though she carefully did everything to keep him 
alive, since upon him her own life hung. 

10. Latterly she had ceased to hate him, and, in a sort 
of way, almost loved him — at least, enough to be sorry for 
him — an innocent child, imprisoned here till he grew into 
an old man, and became a dull, worn-out creature like her- 
self. Sometimes, watching him, she felt more sorry for 
him than even for herself; and then, seeing she looked a 
less miserable and ugly woman, he did not shrink from her 
as usual. 

11. He did not now. “ Nurse — dear nurse,” said he, 
“ I don’t mean to vex you, but tell me — what is a king? 
shall I ever be one? ” 

12. When she began to think less of herself and more 
of the child, the woman’s courage increased. The. idea 
came to her — what harm would it be, even if he did know 
his own history? 

13. After long^doubt she put her finger to her lips, and 
taking the Prince’s slate she wrote: 

“ You are a king.” 

14. Prince Dolor started. His face grew pale, and then 
flushed all over; his eyes glistened; he held himself erect. 
Lame as he was, anybody could see he was born to be a 
king. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


55 


15. “Hush!” said his nurse, as he was beginning to 
speak. And then, terribly frightened all the while, she 
wrote down in a few hurried sentences his history. How 
his parents had died — his uncle had usurped his throne, 
and sent him to end his days in this lonely tower. 

16. “ I, too,” added she, bursting into tears. “ Unless, 
indeed, you could get out into the world, and fight for your 
rights like a man. And fight for me also, my Prince, that 
I may not die in this desolate place.” 

17. “ Poor old nurse! ” said the boy compassionately. 1 
For somehow, boy as he was, when he heard he was horn 
to be a king, he felt like a man — like a king — who could 
afford to be tender because he was strong. 

18. He scarcely slept that night, and even though he 
heard his little lark singing in the sunrise, he barely lis- 
tened to it. Things more serious and important had taken 
possession of his mind. 

19. “ Suppose,” thought he, “ I were to do as she says, 
and go out into the world, no matter how it hurts me — the 
world of people, active people, as active as that hoy I saw. 
They might only laugh at me — poor helpless creature that 
I am; but still I might show them I could do something. 
At any rate, I might go and see if there were anything for 
me to do. Godmother, help me! ” 

20. It was so long since he had asked her help that he 
was hardly surprised when he got no answer — only the 
little lark outside the window sang louder and louder, and 
the sun rose, flooding the room with light. 

21. Prince Dolor sprang out of bed, and began dressing 
himself, which was hard work, for he was not used to it 
— he had always been accustomed to depend upon his nurse 
for everything. 


J Compassionately. Pityingly. 


56 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


“ But I must now learn to be independent/’ thought he. 
“ Fancy a king being dressed like a baby! ” 

22. So he did the best he could, — awkwardly but cheer- 
ily, — and then he leaped to the corner where lay his travel- 
ing-cloak, untied it as before, and watched it unrolling 
itself — which it did rapidly, with a hearty good-will, as if 
quite tired of idleness. So was Prince Dolor — or felt as if 
he were. He jumped into the middle of it, said his charm, 
and was out through the skylight immediately. 

23. “ Good-by, pretty lark! ” he shouted, as he passed it 
on the wing, still warbling its carol to the newly risen sun. 
“ You have been my pleasure, my delight; now I must go 
and work. Sing to old nurse till I come back again. Per- 
haps she’ll hear you — perhaps she won’t — but it will do 
her good all the same. Good-by! ” 

24. But, as the cloak hung irresolute in air, he suddenly 
remembered that he had not determined where to go — in- 
deed, he did not know, and there was nobody to tell him. 

25. “ Godmother,” he cried, in much perplexity, “ you 
know what I want, — at least, I hope you do, for I hardly 
do myself — take me where I ought to go; show me what- 
ever I ought to see — never mind what I like to see,” as a 
sudden idea came into his mind that he might see many 
painful and disagreeable things. But this journey was not 
for pleasure 1 — as before. He was not a baby now, to do 
nothing but play — big boys do not always play. Nor men 
neither — they work. Thus much Prince Dolor knew — 
though very little more. 

26. As the cloak started off, traveling faster than he had 
ever known it to do, — through sky-land and cloud-land, 
over freezing mountain-tops, and desolate stretches of for- 
est, and smiling cultivated plains, and great lakes that 
seemed to him almost as shoreless as the sea, — he was often 


THE LITTLE LAME PEINCE 


57 


rather frightened. But he crouched down, silent and 
quiet; what was the use of making a fuss? and, wrapping 
himself up in his bear-skin, waited for what was to happen. 

27. After some time he heard a murmur in the distance, 
increasing more and more till it grew like the hum of a 
gigantic hive of bees. And, stretching his chin over the 
rim of his cloak, Prince Dolor saw — far, far below him, 
yet, with his gold spectacles on, he could distinctly see a 
great city with its network of streets, its tall rows of 
houses, its grand public buildings, churches, and squares. 

28. He saw, also, its miserable little back alleys, where 
dirty children play in gutters all day and half the night — 
or where men reel tipsy and women fight — where even 
young boys go about picking pockets, with nobody to tell 
them it is wrong except the policeman, and he simply takes 
them off to prison. And all this wretchedness is close be- 
hind the grandeur — like the two sides of the leaf of a book. 

29. An awful sight is a large city, seen any how from 
any where. But, suppose you were to see it from the upper 
air, where, with your eyes and ears open, you could take in 
everything at once? What would it look like? How 
would you feel about it? I hardly know myself. Do you? 

30. Prince Dolor had need to be a. king — that is, a boy 
with a kingly nature — to be able to stand such a sight with- 
out being utterly overcome. But he was very much bo- 
wildered — as bewildered as a blind person who is suddenly 
made to see. 

He gazed down on the city below him, and then put his 
hand over his eyes. 

31. “ I can’t bear to look at it, it is so beautiful — so 
dreadful. And I don’t understand it — not one bit. There 
is nobody to tell me about it. I wish I had somebody to 
speak to.” 


58 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


“ Do you? Then pray speak to me. I was always con- 
sidered good at conversation.” 

32. The voice that squeaked out this reply was an excel- 
lent imitation of the human one, though it came only from 
a bird. No lark this time, however, hut a great black and 
white creature that flew into the cloak, and began walking 
round and round on the edge of it with a dignified stride, 
one foot before the other, like any unfeathered biped 1 you 
could name. 

33. “ I haven’t the honor of your acquaintance, sir,” 
said the boy politely. 

“ Ma’am, if you please. I am a mother bird, and my 
name is Mag, and I shall be happy to tell you everything 
you want to know. For I know a great deal; and I enjoy 
talking. I talk a good deal, but I always talk sense, and I 
dare say I should be exceedingly useful to a poor little 
ignorant boy like you.” 

34. “ I am a prince,” said the other gently. 

“ All right. And I am a magpie. You will find me a 
most respectable bird.” 

“ I have no doubt of it,” was the polite answer — though 
he thought in his own mind that Mag must have a very 
good opinion of herself. But she was a lady and a stran- 
ger, so of course he was civil to her. 

35. She settled herself at his elbow, and began to chat- 
ter away, pointing out with one skinny claw, while she 
balanced herself on the other, every object of interest. 

“ I should like to see the King,” said Prince Dolor. 


1 Biped. A two-legged animal. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


59 


CHAPTER VIII 

1. “ Ah,” said the magpie, “ no levee 1 to-day. The 
King is ill, though his Majesty does not wish it to be gen- 
erally known — it would he so very inconvenient. He 
can’t see you, but perhaps you might like to go and take a 
look at him in a way I often do? It is so very amusing.” 

2. As she spoke, Mag flew down on to the palace roof, 
where the cloak had rested, settling down between the 
great stacks of chimneys as comfortably as if on the ground. 
She pecked at the tiles with her beak — truly she was a won- 
derful bird — and immediately a little hole opened, a sort of 
door, through which could he seen distinctly the chamber 
below. 

3. “ How look in, my Prince. Make haste, for I must 
soon shut it up again.” 

But the boy hesitated. “Isn’t it rude? — won’t they 
think us intruding? ” 

4. “ Oh, dear no! there’s a hole like this in every palace; 
dozens of holes, indeed. Everybody knows it, but nobody 
speaks of it. How pop down on your knees, and take a 
peep at his Majesty! ” 

His Majesty! 

5. The Prince gazed eagerly down into a large room, the 
largest room he had ever beheld, with furniture and hang- 
ings grander than anything he could have ever imagined. 
A stray sunbeam, coming through a crevice of the dark- 
ened windows, struck across the carpet, and it was the love- 
liest carpet ever woven — just like a bed of flowers to walk 
over; only nobody walked over it, the room being perfectly 
empty and silent. 


Levee. Reception of visitors. 


60 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


6. “ Where is the King?” asked the puzzled hoy. 

“ There,” said Mag, pointing with one wrinkled claw to 
a magnificent bed, large enough to contain six people. In 
the center of it, just visible under the silken counterpane, — 
quite straight and still, — with its head on the lace pillow, 
lay a small figure, something like waxwork, fast asleep — 
very fast asleep! 

7. “Is that the King?” whispered Prince Dolor. 

“ Yes,” replied the bird. 

He had been angry — furiously angry — ever since he 
knew how his uncle had taken the crown, and sent him, a 
poor little helpless child, to he shut up for life, just as if he 
had been dead. Many times the hoy had felt as if, king 
as he was, he should like to strike him, this great, strong, 
wicked man. 

8. Why, you might as well have struck a baby! How 
helpless he lay, with his eyes shut, and his idle hands 
folded: they had no more work to do, bad or good. 

“What is the matter with him?” asked the Prince. 

“ He is dead,” said the Magpie, with a croak. 

9. Ko, there was not the least use in being angry 
with him now. On the contrary, the Prince felt almost 
sorry for him, except that he looked so peaceful, with all 
his cares at rest. And this was being dead? So even 
kings died? 

10. “ Well, well, he hadn’t an easy life, folk say, for all 
his grandeur. Perhaps he is glad it is over. Good-by, 
your Majesty.” 

With another cheerful tap of her beak, Mistress Mag 
shut down the little door in the tiles, and Prince Dolor’s 
first and last sight of his uncle was ended. 

11. Prince Dolor fell into a kind of swoon, and when he 
awoke he found himself in his room, — alone and quiet, 


THE LITTLE LAME FRINCE 


61 


— with the dawn just breaking, and the long rim of yellow 
light in the horizon glimmering through the window panes. 


CHAPTER IX 

1. When Prince Dolor sat up in bed, trying to remember 
where he was, whither he had been, and what he had seen 
the day before, he perceived that his room was empty. 

2. Generally his nurse rather worried him by breaking 
his slumbers, coming in and “ setting things to rights,” as 
6he called it. Now the dust lay thick upon chairs and 
tables; there was no harsh voice heard to scold him for not 
getting up immediately. It was striking ten now, and still 
no nurse was to be seen. He was rather relieved at first, 
for he felt so tired; and besides, when he stretched out his 
arm, he found to his dismay that he had gone to bed in his 
clothes. 

3. Very uncomfortable he felt, of course; and just a little 
frightened. Especially when he began to call and call 
again, but nobody answered. Often he used to think how 
nice it would be to get rid of his nurse and live in this 
tower all by himself — like a sort of monarch, able to do 
everything he liked, and leave undone all that he did not 
want to do; but now that this seemed really to have hap- 
pened, he did not like it at all. 

4. “ Nurse, — dear nurse, — please come back! ” he called 
out. *“ Come back, and I will be the best boy in all the 
land.” 

And when she did not come back, and nothing but 
silence answered his lamentable 1 call, he very nearly began 
to cry. 


1 Lamentable. Pitiful. 


62 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


“ This won’t do/’ he said at last, dashing the tears from 
his eyes. “ It’s just like a baby, and I’m a big hoy — shall 
be a man some day. What has happened, I wonder? I’ll 
go and see.” 

5. He sprang out of bed, — not to his feet, alas! but to his 
poor little weak knees, and crawled on them from room to 
room. All the four chambers were deserted — not for- 
lorn or untidy, for everything seemed to have been done 
for his comfort — the breakfast and dinner things were laid, 
the food spread in order. He might live “ like a prince,” 
as the proverb is, for several days. But the place was 
entirely forsaken— there was evidently not a creature but 
himself in the solitary tower. 

6. A great fear came upon the poor boy. Lonely as his 
life had been, he had never known what it was to be abso- 
lutely alone. A kind of despair seized him — no violent 
anger or terror, but a sort of patient desolation. 

“ What in the world am I to do?” thought he, and sat 
down in the middle of the floor, half inclined to believe 
that it would be better to give up entirely, lay himself 
down, and die. 

7 . This feeling, however, did not last long, for he was 
young and strong, and, I said before, by nature a very 
courageous boy. There came into his head, somehow or 
other, a proverb that his nurse had taught him: 

“ For every evil under the sun 
There is a remedy, or there’s none ; • 

If there is one, try to find it — 

If there isn’t, never mind it.” 

“ I wonder is there a remedy now, and could I find it? ” 
cried the Prince, jumping up and looking out of the 
window. 


the little lame pkince 


63 


8. No help there. He only saw the broad, bleak, sun- 
shiny plain — that is, at first. But by and by, in the circle 
of mud that surrounded the base of the tower, he perceived 
distinctly the marks of a horse’s feet, and just in the spot 
where the deaf-mute was accustomed to tie up his great 
black charger, while he himself ascended, there- lay the re- 
mains of a bundle of hay and a feed of corn. 

9. “ Yes, that’s it. He has come and gone, taking 
nurse away with him. Poor nurse! how glad she would be 
to go! ” 

10. That was Prince Dolor’s first thought. His second 
— wasn’t it natural? — was a passionate indignation at her 
cruelty — at the cruelty of all the world toward him, a 
poor little helpless boy. Then he determined, forsaken as 
he was, to try and hold on to the last, and not to die as long 
as he could possibly help it. 

11. For the second time he tried to dress himself, and 
then to do everything he could for himself — even to sweep- 
ing up the hearth and putting on more coals. “ It’s a 
funny thing for a prince to have to do,” said he, laughing. 
“ But my godmother once said princes need never mind 
doing anything.” 

12. And then he thought a little of his godmother. Not 
of summoning her, or asking her to help him, — she had 
evidently left him to help himself, and he was determined 
to try his best to do it, being a very proud and independent 
boy, — but he remembered her tenderly and regretfully, as 
if even she had been a little hard upon him — poor, forlorn 
boy that he was. But he seemed to have seen and learned 
so much within the last few days that he scarcely felt like a 
boy, but a man — until he went to bed at night. 

13. After his first despair, he was not merely comfort- 
able, b^t actually happy in his solitude, doing everything 


64 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


for himself, and enjoying everything by himself — until 
bedtime. Then he did not like it at all. 

14. But the Prince had to hear it — and he did bear it, 
like a prince — for fully five days. All that time he got 
up in the morning and went to bed at night without hav- 
ing spoken to a creature, or, indeed, heard a single sound. 
For even his little lark was silent; and as for his traveling- 
cloak, either he never thought about it, or else it had been 
spirited away — for he made no use of it, nor attempted to 
do so. 

15. A very strange existence it was, those five lonely 
days. He never entirely forgot it. It threw him back 
upon himself, and into himself — in a way that all of us 
have to learn when we grow up, and are the better for it; 
but it is somewhat hard learning. 

16. On the sixth day Prince Dolor had a strange com- 
posure in his look, but he was very grave and thin and 
white. He had nearly come to the end of his provisions — 
and what was to happen next? Get out of the tower he 
could not: the ladder the deaf-mute used was always car- 
ried away again; and if it had not been, how could the poor 
boy have used it? And even if he slung or flung himself 
down, and by miraculous chance came alive to the foot of 
the tower, how could he run away? 

17. Fate had been very hard to him, or so it seemed. 

He made up his mind to die. Not that he wished to 

die; on the contrary, there was a great deal that he wished 
to live to do; but if he must die, he must. And there he 
sat very calm and patient, like a king in his castle, waiting 
for the end. 

18. “ Still, I wish I had done something first — some- 
thing worth doing, that somebody might remember me by,” 
thought he. “ Suppose I had grown a man, and had had 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


65 


work to do, and people to care for, and was so useful and 
busy that they liked me, and perhaps even forgot I was 
lame? Then it would have been nice to live, I think.” 

19. A tear came into the little fellow’s eyes, and he 
listened intently through the dead silence for some hope- 
ful sound. 

20. Was there one? — was it his little lark, whom he had 
almost forgotten? No, nothing half so sweet. But it 
really was something — something which came nearer and 
nearer, so that there was no mistaking it. It was the sound 
of a trumpet, one of the great silver trumpets so admired in 
Nomansland. Not pleasant music, but very bold, grand, 
and inspiring. 

21. As he listened to it the boy seemed to recall many 
things which had slipped his memory for years, and to 
nerve himself for whatever might be going to happen. 

What had happened was this. 

22. The poor condemned woman had not been such a 
wicked woman after all. Perhaps her courage was not 
wholly disinterested, but she had done a very heroic thing. 
As soon as she heard of the death and burial of the King 
a daring idea came into her head — to set upon the throne 
of Nomansland its rightful heir. Thereupon she per- 
suaded the deaf-mute to take her away with him, and they 
galloped like the wind from city to city, spreading every- 
where the news that Prince Dolor’s death and burial had 
been an invention concocted 1 by his wicked uncle — that he 
was alive and well, and the noblest young prince that ever 
was bora. 

23. It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded. The coun- 
try, weary perhaps of the late King’s harsh rule, and yet 
glad to save itself from the horrors of no rule at all, and 


* Concocted. Planned. 


66 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


having no particular interest in the other young princes, 
jumped at the idea of this Prince, who was the son of their 
late good King and the beloved Queen Dolorez. 

24. “ Hurrah for Prince Dolor! Let Prince Dolor he 
our sovereign! ” rang from end to end of the kingdom. 
Everybody tried to remember what a dear baby he once 
was — how like his mother, who had been so sweet and kind, 
and his father, the finest-looking king that ever reigned. 
Nobody remembered his lameness — or, if they did, they 
passed it over as a matter of no consequence. They were 
determined to have him reign over them, hoy as he was — 
perhaps just because he was a bo)q since in that case the 
great nobles thought they should he able to do as they 
liked with the country. 

25. Accordingly, with a fickleness not confined to the 
people of Nomansland, no sooner was the late King laid in 
his grave than they pronounced him to have been a 
usurper; 1 turned all his family out of the palace, and left it 
empty for the reception of the new sovereign, whom they 
went to fetch with great rejoicing, a select body 'of lords, 
gentlemen, and soldiers traveling night and day in solemn 
procession through the country until they reached Hope- 
less Tower. 

26. There they found the Prince, sitting calmly on the 
floor — deadly pale, indeed, for he expected a quite different 
end from this, and was resolved, if he had to die, to die 
courageously, like a Prince and a King. 

27. But when they hailed him as Prince and King, and 
explained to him how matters stood, and went down on 
their knees before him, offering the crown (on a velvet 
cushion, with four golden tassels, each nearly as big as his 
head), — small though he was and lame, which lameness 


1 Usurper. One who takes power which does not belong to him by right. 


TIIE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


67 


the courtiers pretended not to notice, — there came such a 
glow into his face, such a dignity into his demeanor, that 
he became beautiful, king-like. 

28. “ Yes,” he said, “ if you desire it, I will be your 
king. And I will do my best to make my people happy.” 

Then there arose, from inside and outside the tower, 
such a shout as never yet was heard across the lonely plain. 

29. Prince Dolor shrank a little from the deafening 
sound. “ How shall I be able to rule all this great people? 
You forget, my lords, that I am only a little boy still.” 

“Not so* very little,” was the respectful answer. “We 
have searched in the records, and found that your Royal 
Highness — your Majesty, I mean — is precisely fifteen years 
old.” 

30. “Am I?” said Prince Dolor; and his first thought 
was a thoroughly childish pleasure that he should now 
have a birthday, with a whole nation to keep it. Then he 
remembered that his childish days were done. He was a 
monarch now. Even his nurse, to whom, the moment he 
saw her, he had held out his hand, kissed it reverently, and 
called him ceremoniously “his Majesty the King.” 

31. “It will be a new life in a new world,” said he to 
himself; “ but Fll remember the old things still. And, oh! 
if before I go I could but once see my dear old godmother.” 

32. While he spoke he had laid himself down on the 
bed for a minute or two, rather tired with his grandeur, 
and confused by the noise of the trumpets which kept play- 
ing incessantly down below. He gazed, half sadly, up to 
the skylight, whence there came pouring a stream of sun- 
ravs, with innumerable motes floating there, like a bridge 
thrown between heaven and earth. Sliding down it, as if 
she had been made of air, came the little old woman in 
gray. 


68 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


33. So beautiful looked she — old as she was — that 
Prince Dolor was at first quite startled by the apparition. 
Then he held out his arms in eager delight. 

“ Oh, godmother, you have not forsaken me! ” 

34. “ Not at all, my son. You may not have seen me, 
but I have seen you many a time. If anything makes you 
happy, gay, or grave, don’t you think it is more than likely 
to come through your old godmother? ” 

35. “ I believe that,” said the boy tenderly, holding out 
his arms. They clasped one another in a close embrace. 

Suddenly Prince Dolor looked very anxious. • “ You will 
not leave me now that I am a king? Otherwise I had 
rather not be a king at all. Promise never to forsake me! ” 

36. The little old woman laughed gayly. “ Forsake 
you? that is impossible. But it is just possible you may 
forsake me. Not probable though. Your mother never 
did, and she was a queen. The sweetest queen in all the 
world was the Lady Dolorez.” 

“ Tell me about her,” said the boy eagerly. “ As I get 
older I think I can understand more. Do tell me.” 

37. “Not now. You couldn’t hear me for the trum- 
pets and the shouting. But when you are come to the 
palace, ask for a long-closed upper room, which looks out 
upon the Beautiful Mountains; open it and take it for your 
own. Whenever you go there you will always find me, and 
we will talk together about all sorts of things.” 

“ And about my mother? ” 

38. The little old woman nodded — and kept nodding 
and smiling to herself many times, as the boy repeated over 
and over again the sweet words he had never known or 
understood — “ my mother — my mother.” 

39. “ Now I must go,” said she, as the trumpets blared 1 


1 Blare. Sound loudly and somewhat harshly. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


69 


louder and louder, and the shouts of the people showed that 
they would not endure any delay. “ Good-by, good-by! 
Open the window and out I fly.” 

40. Prince Dolor repeated gayly the musical rhyme — 
but all the while tried to hold his godmother fast. 

Vain, vain! for the moment that a knocking was heard 
at his door the sun went behind a. cloud, the bright stream 
of dancing motes vanished, and the little old woman with 
them — he knew not where. 

41. So Prince Dolor quitted his tower — which he had 
entered so mournfully and ignominiously 1 as a little help- 
less baby carried in the deaf-mute’s arms — quitted it as 
the great King of Nomansland. 

42. The only thing he took away with him was some- 
thing so insignificant that none of the lords, gentlemen, 
and soldiers who escorted him with such triumphant splen- 
dor could possibly notice it — a tiny bundle, which he had 
found lying on the floor just where the bridge of sunbeams 
had rested. At once he had pounced upon it, and thrust it 
secretly into his bosom, where it dwindled into such small 
proportions that it might have been taken for a mere chest- 
comforter, a bit of flannel, or an old pocket-handkerchief. 

It was his traveling-cloak! 


CHAPTER X 

1. Did Prince Dolor become a great king? Was he, 
though little more than a boy, “ the father of his people,” 
as all kings ought to be? Did his reign last long — long 
and happy? 

2. Of this I am sure, that Prince Dolor made an excel- 
lent king. I cannot take upon myself to say that he was 


1 Ignominiously. Ingloriously. 


VO 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


always happy now — who is? — or that he had no cares; just 
show me the person who is quite free from them! 

3. As he grew older the labors of state prevented the fre- 
quent use of his traveling-cloak; still he did use it sorne^- 
times. Only now it was less for his own pleasure and 
amusement than to see something or investigate 1 some- 
thing for the good of the country. But he prized his god- 
mother’s gift as dearly as ever. It was a comfort to him 
in all his vexations, an enhancement of all his joys. It 
made him almost forget his lameness — which was never 
cured. 

4. Though he never walked in processions, never re- 
viewed his troops mounted on a magnificent charger, nor 
did any of the things which make a show monarch so much 
appreciated, he was able for all the duties and a great many 
of the pleasures of his rank. When he held his levees, not 
standing, but seated on a throne ingeniously contrived to 
hide his infirmity, the people thronged to greet him; when 
he drove out through the city streets, shouts followed him 
wherever he went — every countenance brightened as he 
passed, and his own, perhaps, was the brightest of all. 

5. First, because, accepting his affliction as inevitable, 
he took it patiently; second, because, being a brave man, 
he bore it bravely, trying to forget himself, and live out of 
himself, and in and for other people. 

6. He recalled his uncle’s family, who had fled away in 
terror to another country, and restored them to all their 
honors in their own. By and by he chose the eldest son of 
his eldest cousin (who had been dead a year), and had him 
educated in the royal palace, as the heir to the throne. 
This little prince was a quiet, unobtrusive 2 boy, so that 


1 Investigate. Search into. 

2 Unobtrusive. Not presuming, modest. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


n 


everybody wondered at the King’s choosing him when there 
were so many more ; but as he grew into a fine young fellow, 
good and brave, they agreed that the King judged more 
wisely than they. 

7. “ Not a lame prince, either,” his Majesty observed one 
day, watching him affectionately; for he was the best 
runner, the highest leaper, the keenest and most active 
sportsman in the country. “ One cannot make one’s self, 
but one can sometimes help a little in the making of some- 
body else. It is well.” 

8. This was said, not to any of his great lords and ladies, 
but to a good old woman — his first homely nurse — whom 
he had sought for far and wide, and at last found in her 
cottage among the Beautiful Mountains. He sent for her 
to visit him once a year, and treated her with great honor 
until she died. He was equally kind, though somewhat 
less tender, to his other nurse, who, after receiving her par- 
don, returned to her native town and grew into a great 
lady, and I hope a good one. But as she was so grand a 
personage now, any little faults she had did not show. 

9. Thus King Dolor’s reign passed, year after year, long 
and prosperous. Whether he were happy — “ as happy as a 
king ” — is a question no human being can decide. But I 
think he was, because he had the power of making every- 
body about him happy, and did it too; also because he was 
his godmother’s godson, and could shut himself up with 
her whenever he liked, in that quiet little room in view of 
the Beautiful Mountains, which nobody else ever saw or 
cared to see. They were too far off, and the city lay so low. 
But there they were, all the time. No change ever came to 
them; and I think, at any day throughout his long reign, 
the King would sooner have lost his crown than have lost 
sight of the Beautiful Mountains. 


12 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


10. In course of time, when the little Prince, his cousin, 
was grown into a tall young man, capable of all the duties 
of a man, his Majesty did one of the most extraordinary 
acts ever known in a sovereign beloved by his people and 
prosperous in his reign. He announced that he wished to 
invest his heir with the royal purple 1 — at any rate, for a 
time — while he himself went away on a distant journey, 
whither he had long desired to go. 

11. Everybody marveled, but nobody opposed him. 
Who could oppose the good King, who was not a young 
king now? 

So there was fixed a day when all the people whom it 
would hold assembled in the great square of the capital, 
to see the young Prince installed solemnly in his new 
duties, and undertaking his new vows. 

12. The King lifted up his thin, slender hand, and there 
came a silence over the vast crowd immediately. Then he 
spoke, in his own accustomed way, using no grand words, 
but saying what he had to say in the simplest fashion, 
though with a clearness that struck their ears like the first 
song of a bird in the dusk of the morning. 

13. “ My people, I am tired: I want to rest. I have had a 
long reign, and done much work — at least, as much as I 
was able to do. Many might have done it better than I 
— but none with a better will. Now I leave it to others; I 
am tired, very tired. Let me go home.” 

14. There arose a murmur — of content or discontent 
none could well tell; then it died down again, and the 
assembly listened silently once more. 

15. “ I am not anxious about you, my people — my chil- 
dren,” continued the King. “ You are prosperous and at 


1 Invest with the royal purple. Make king. 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


73 


peace. I leave you in good hands. The Prince Regent 
will be a fitter king for you than I.” 

16. “No, no, no! ” rose the universal shout — and those 
who had sometimes found fault with him shouted louder 
than anybody. But he seemed as if he heard them not. 

17. “ Yes, yes,” said he, as soon as the tumult had a little 
subsided: and his voice sounded firm and clear; and some 
very old people, who boasted of having seen him as a child, 
declared that his face took a sudden change, and grew as 
young and sweet as that of the little Prince Dolor. “ Yes, 
I must go. It is time for me to go. Remember me some- 
times, my people, for I have loved you well. And I am 
going a long way, and I do not think I shall come back any 
more.” 

18. He drew a little bundle out of his breast pocket — a 
bundle that nobody had ever seen before. It was small and 
shabby-looking, and tied up with many knots, which untied 
themselves in an instant. With a joyful countenance, he 
muttered over it a few half-intelligible words. Then, so 
suddenly that even those nearest to his Majesty could not 
tell how it came about, the King was away — away — floating 
right up in the air — upon something, they knew not what, 
except that it appeared to be as safe and pleasant as the 
wings of a bird. 

19. And after him sprang a bird — a dear little lark, ris- 
ing from whence no one could say, since larks do not usu- 
ally build their nests in the pavement of city squares. But 
there it was, a real lark, singing far over their heads, louder 
and clearer and more joyful as it vanished further into the 
blue sky. 

20. Shading their eyes, and straining their ears, the 
astonished people stood until the whole vision disappeared 


n 


THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 


like a speck in the clouds — the rosy clouds that overhung 
the Beautiful Mountains. 

21. King Dolor was never again beheld or heard of in his 
own country. But the good he had done there lasted for 
years and years; he was long missed and deeply mourned — 
at least, so far as anybody could mourn one who was gone 
on such a happy journey. 

22. Whither he went, or who went with him, it is im- 
possible to say. But I myself believe that his godmother 
took him on his traveling-cloak to the Beautiful Mountains. 
What he did there, or where he is now, who can tell? I 
cannot. But one thing I am quite sure of, that, wherever 
he is, he is perfectly happy. 

And so, when I think of him, am I. 


THE END. 


Maynard’s French Texts 


A Series of French School Texts 

This Series of French Texts is intended principally for begin- 
ners, although it will contain some volumes suitable for students 
who have attained some proficiency in reading. Each volume is 
carefully edited v an experienced teacher with notes or vocab- 
ulary or both, as the case may be. The type is large and clear and 
the volumes are tastefully bound in cloth. 

Specimen copies sent by mail on receipt of the price 

No. i. La Belle au Bois Dormant. Le Chat 
Botte. Elementary. 24 pages text, 29 pages vocabulary. 
Cloth, price 20 cents. 

No. 2. Mele -toi dc ton Metier, by Mile. L. Bruneau. 
Elementary. 18 pages text, 34 pages vocabulary. Cloth, 
price 20 cents. 

No. 3. Huit Contes, by Mile. Marie Minssen. 
Elementary. 25 pages text, 36 pages vocabulary. Cloth, 
price 20 cents. 

No. 4. Historiettes. From the English. Elementary. 
24 pages text, 35 pages vocabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. 

No. 5 - Ce qu’on voit, by Mile. E. de PompSry. 
Elementary. 23 pages text, 36 pages vocabulary. Cloth, 
price 20 cents. 

No. 6. Petites Histoires Enfantines, by Mile. E. 
de Pomp6ry. Elementary. 22 pages text, 37 pages vo< 
cabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. 

No. 7. Petit Livre destruction et de Diver- 
tissement. Elementary. 27 pages text, 37 pages 
vocabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. 

No. 8. Un Mariage d’Amour, by Ludovic Hal6vy. 
Advanced. 57 pages text, 5 pages appendix, 8 pages 
notes. Cloth, price 25 cents. 


1 


S 


NBENCH PUBLICATIONS 


Maynard , Merrill, < 5 p Co. publish also the following 
standard French books : 

La France. By A. de Rougemont, Professor of 
French at the Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn, N. Y., and 
in charge of the French course at Chautauqua. An enter- 
taining and instructive reading book for French classes. 
Of special value for stimulating learners to speak. 
Used at Harvard College. Cloth, 188 pages, 75 cents. ^ 

“ In seventeen short chapters we are told (in French) all about 
the soil, climate, population, industries, social classes, and principal 
cities of France ; and in twenty-two chapters more the educational 
system, the language and universities, the literature, the arts, the 
sciences, religion, and domestic life of France are discussed.” — The 
Critic , New York. 

From Yale College : “ I shall take every opportunity that may 
present itself to recommend its use.” — Prof. W. D. Whitney. 

From A mherst College : “ It is almost the ideal book for which 
I have been looking.”— Prof. W. L. Montague. 

Anecdotes Nouvelles, Lectures faciles et 
amusantes et Recitations. Boards, 30 cents. 

Elwairs English-French and French- 
English Dictionary. Compact, and beautifully 
printed. i8mo, 1300 pages, cloth, $2.00. 

FRENCH COURSE BY PROF. JEAN 
GUSTAVE KEETELS 

I. A Child’s Illustrated First Book in French. 

167 pages, i2mo, 75 cents. 

The aim of this book is to teach children to speak 
French as they learn their mother tongue. It contains 
sufficient matter for a two years’ course of instruction, 
and is intended for children from eight or ten years of 
age to twelve or fourteen years of age. 

II. An Elementary French Grammar. 350 pages, 
i2mo. Price 95 cents. 

This book is designed for students in high schools and 
academies who are beginning the study of French. Its 
purpose is to train them in the principles of French 


FRENCH PUBLICATIONS 


3 


Grammar, and to accustom them to speak French by oral 
instruction. The rules are stated in clear, correct, and 
concise language. The exercises are short, lively, and 
varied. It contains matter for a course of one or two 
years’ instruction, and will prepare students to take up 
afterward the larger works, with the advantage of know* 
ing much of the theoretical part, rendering their task in 
going through the course easier and surer. 

A Key to the English Exercises in the Elementary 
French Grammar. For Teachers only. 60 cents. 

III. An Analytical and Practical French Grammar. 

i2mo, 554 pages, $1.50. 

This work contains a complete system for learning to 
read, write, and speak the language. The practical part 
consists of oral exercises in the form of questions, which 
the teacher asks of the pupil, who is to answer them 
directly in French. This method insures fluency of utter- 
ance and correct pronunciation, and exercises the pupil 
in speaking French from the beginning. 

The theoretical part of the work comprises the whole 
grammar in fifty-four lessons, accompanied by English 
exercises to be translated into French. The development 
of the different elements is in harmony with the logical 
construction of sentences. 

Three lessons are devoted to Etymology, treating of 
words derived from the Latin and common to both 
French and English. This is an interesting part of the 
work. 

Six lessons have been added, giving subjects for com- 
position ; containing some of the principal idioms in the 
language. 

This work is the most ccmplete text-book of French 
published in this country. 

A Key to the English Exercises in the Analytical 
and Practical French Grammar. For Teachers only, 
60 cents. 

IV. A Collegiate Course in the French Language: 

Comprising a Complete Grammar in Two Parts. 550 
pages, i2mo, attractively bound. Price for introduction, 

fi.50. 


4 


FRENCH PUBLICATIONS 


Part First. — A Treatise on French Pronunciation \ 
Rules of Gender; Etymology ; Exercises for Translation; 
the Latin elements common to both French and English. 

Part Second. — Syntax; a Collection of Idioms; Exer 
cises for Translation, and Vocabulary. 

This work, as its title indicates, is designed for colleges 
and collegiate institutions. 

A Key to the English Exercises in the Col- 
legiate Course. For Teachers only. 60 cents. 

V. An Analytical French Reader : with English 
Exercises for Translation and Oral Exercises for Practice 
in Speaking ; Questions on Grammar, with References to 
the Author’s several Grammars ; Notes and Vocabulary- 
In Two Parts. Part First : Selections of Fables, Anec- 
dotes, and Short Stories. Part Second : Selections 
from the Best Modern Writers. 348 pages, i2mo. Price 
$1.25. 

FRENCH PLAYS FOR GIRLS 

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 
Edited by Prof. M. £mile Roche 

1. Marguerite ; ou, La robe perdue. Drame moral 
en un acte, mel6 de couplets. 25 cents. 

2. Les Ricochets. ComSdie en un acte, imit6e de 
Picard avec couplets. 25 cents. 

3. Les Demoiselles d’Honneur; ou, Le lutin du 
soir. Vaudeville en un acte. 25 cents. 

4. Les Demoiselles de Saint Cyr. Petit drame 
moral en un acte. 25 cents. 

5. Un Reve. Petit drame avec prologue et Epilogue. 
25 cents. 

6. Une Place a la Cour. Comedie en un acte avec 
couplets. 25 cents. 


Maynard, Merrill, & Co., Publishers 


Maynard's German Texts 

A Series of German School Texts 

CAREFULLY EDITED BY SCHOLARS FAMILIAR WITH 
THE NEEDS OF THE CLASS-ROOM 

The distinguishing features cf the Series are as follows: 

The Texts are chosen only from modern German authors, in 
order to give the pupil specimens of the language as it is now 
written and spoken. The German prose style of the present 
differs so largely from that of the classical period of German 
literature, from which the books in the haifds of pupils are gener- 
ally taken, that the want of such texts must have been felt by 
every teacher of German. 

Each volume contains, either in excerpt or in extenso , a piece 
of German prose which, whilst continuous enough to sustain inter- 
est, will not be too long to be finished in the work of a term or two 

The Series is composed of two progressive courses, the Ele- 
mentary and the Advanced. Some of the volumes of the Elementary 
Course contain, in addition to the notes, a complete alphabetical 
vocabulary. In the remaining volumes of the Series difficulties of 
meaning, to which the ordinary school dictionaries offer no clew, 
are dealt with in the notes at the end of each book. 

In order not to overburden the vocabularies with verbal forms 
occurring in the text, a list of the commoner strong verbs is added 
as an appendix to the volumes of the Elementary Course. 

The modern German orthography is used throughout. 

The same grammatical terminology is used in all the volumes 
of the Series. 

The volumes are attractively bound in cloth, and the type is 
large and clear. 

All the elementary numbers contain a valuable appendix on the 
strong and weak verbs. 

Specimen copies sent by mail on receipt of the price. 

No. I. Ulysses und der Kyklop, from C. F. Beck- 
er’s Erzahlungen aus der Alten Welt. An especially 
easy number. Eleyyientary . 21 pages text, 50 pages 

vocabulary. Cloth, 25 cents. 

No. 2. Fritz auf dem Lande, by Hans Arnold- 
An easy number. Eleynentary. 29 pages text, 28 pages 
notes, 28 pages vocabulary, 4 pages appendix, Cloth, 
25 cents. 

No. 3. Bilder aus der Tiirkei, from Grube’s Geo- 

graphische Characterbilder. Eleyyientary . 28 pages text, 

25 pages notes, 43 pages vocabulary and appendix. 
Cloth, 25 cents. 

No. 4. Weihnachten bei Leberecht Hiinchen, by 
Heinrich Seidel. Eleynentary. 26 pages text. 36 pages 
notes, 34 pages vocabulary and appendix. Cloth, 25 
cents. 


GERMAN PUBLICATIONS 


No. 5. Die Wandelnde Glocke, from Der Lahrer 
Hinkende Bote , by Wilhelm Fischer. Elementary. 33 
pages text, 24 pages notes, 38 pages vocabulary and ap- 
pendix. Cloth, 25 cents. 

No. 6. Der Besuch im Career, Humoreske, by 
Ernst Eckstein. Elementary. 31 pages text, 23 pages 
notes, 30 pages vocabulary and appendix. Cloth, 25 
cents. 

No. 7. Episodes from Andreas Hofer, by Otto 
Hoffman. Elementary. 78 pages text, 18 pages notes. 
Cloth, 25 cents. 

No. 8. Die Werke der Barmherzigkeit, by W. H. 
Riehl. Elementary. 60 pages text, 34 pages notes. 
Cloth, 25 cents. 

Nc. 9. Harold, Trauerspiel in fiinf Akten, by Ernst 
von Wildenbruch. Advanced. 4 pages introduction, 
1 15 pages text, 18 pages notes. Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 10. Kolberg, Historisches Schauspiel in fiinf 
Akten, by Paul Heyse. Advanced. 112 pages text, 25 
pages notes. Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 11. Robert Blake (ein Seesttlck) und Crom- 
well, zwei ausgevvahlte Aufs&tze, by Reinhold Pauli. 
Advanced. 2 pages preface, 93 pages text, 53 pages notes. 
Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 12. Das deutsche Ordensland Preussen, by 
H. von Treitschke. Advanced. With map, 77 pages 
text, 62 pages notes. Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 13. Meister Martin Hildebrand, by W. H. 
Riehl. Advanced. An easy volume. 3 pages intro- 
duction, 53 pages text, 35 pages notes. Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 14. Die Lehrjahre eines Humanisten, by 
W. H. Riehl. Advanced. 55 pages text, 47 pages notes. 
Cloth, 40 cents. 

No. 15. Aus dem Jahrhundert des Grossen Krie- 
ges, by Gustav Freytag. Advanced. 28 pages introduc- 
tion, 85 pages text, 41 pages notes. Cloth, 40 cents. 


Goethe’s Italienische Reise. (. selected 

Letters .) With introduction, 16 pages, map, text, 98 
pages, notes, 48 pages. Edited by H. S. Beresford- 
Webb, Examiner in German {Prelim.) to the University 
if Glasgow. Cloth, 50 cents. 


English Classic Series— continued. 


63 The Antigone of Sophocles. 

English Version by Thos. Franck* 
lin, D.D. 

64 Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

(Selected Poems.) 

65 Robert Browning. (Selected 

Poems.) 

66 Addison's Spectator. (Selec'ns.) 

67 Scenes from George Eliot's 

Adam Bede. 

68 Matthew Arnold’s Culture and 

Anarchy. 

69 DeQuincey’s Joan of Are. 

70 Carlyle’s Essay on Barns. 

71 Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pil- 

grimage. 

72 Poe’s Raven, and other Poems. 

73 & 74 Macaulay’s Lord Clive. 

(Double Number.) 

75 Webster’s Reply to Hayne. 
76&77 Macaulay’s Bays of An- 
cient Rome. (Double Number.) 

78 American Patriotic Selections: 

Declaration of Independence, 
Washington’s Farewell Ad- 
dress, Lincoln's Gettysburg 
Speech, etc. 

79 & 80 Scott’s Lady of the Bake. 

(Condensed.) 

81 & 82 Scott’s Marmion. (Con- 
densed.) 

83 & 84 Pope’s Essay on Man. 

85 Shelley’s Skylark, Adonals. and 

other Poems. 

86 Dickens’s Cricket on the 

Hearth. 

87 Spencer’s Philosophy of Style. 

88 Bamb’s Essays of Elia. 

89 Cowper’s Task, Book II. 

90 Wordsworth’s Selected Poems, 

91 Tennyson’s The Holy Grail, and 

Sir Galahad. 

92 Addison's Cato. 

93 Irving’s Westminster Abbey) 

and Christmas Sketches. 

94 & 95 Macaulay’s Earl .of Chat- 

ham. Second Essay. 

96 Early English Ballads. 

97 Skelton, Wyatt, and Surrey. 

(Selected Poems.) 

98 Edwin Arnold. (Selected Poems.) 

99 Caxton and Daniel. (Selections.) 

100 Fuller and Hooker. (Selections.) 

101 Marlowe’s Jew of Malta. (Con- 

densed.) 

102-103 Macaulay’s Essay on Mil- 
ton. 

104-105 Macaulay’s Essay on Ad- 
dison. 

106 Macaulay’s Essay on Bos- 
well’s Johnson. 


107 Mandeville’s Travels and Wy- 
cliffe’s Bible. (Selections.) 
108-109 Macaulay’s Essay on Fred- 
erick the Great. 

110-111 Milton's Samson Agonis- 
tes. i 

112-113-114 Franklin’s Autobiog- 
raphy. 

115-116 Herodotus’s Stories of 
Croesus, Cyrus, and Babylon. 

117 Irving’s Alhambra. 

118 Burke’s Present Discontents. 

119 Burke’s Speech on Concilia- 
tion with American Colonies. 

120 Macaulay's Essay on B^ron. 
121-122 Motley’s Peter the Great. 

123 Emerson’s American Scholar. 

124 Arnold’s Sohrab and Rustum, 
125-126 Bongfellow’s Evangeline. 

127 Andersen’s Danish Fairy Tales. 

(Selected.) 

128 Tennyson’s The Coming of 
Arthur, and The Passing of 
Arthur. 

129 Lowell’s The Vision of Sir 
Eaunfal, and other Poems. 

130 Whittier’s Songs of Labor, and 

other Poems. 

131 Words of Abraham Lincoln. 

132 Grimm’s German Fairy Tales. 

(Selected.) r 

133 iEsop’s Fables. (Selected.) 

134 Arabian Nights. Aladdin, or 
the Wonderful Lamp. 

135-36 The Psalter. 

137-38 Scott’s Ivanhoe. (Con- 
densed.) 

139-40 Scott’s Kenilworth. (Con- 
densed.) 

141-42 Scott’s The Talisman. (Con- 
densed.) 

143 Gods and Heroes of the North. 
144-45 Pope’s Iliad of HonJer. 
(Selections from Books I.-VIII.) 

146 Four Medheval Chroniclers. 

147 Dante’s Inferno. (Condensed.) 
148-49 The Book of Job. (Revised 

Version.) 

150 Bow-Wow and Mew-Mew. By 
Georgians M. Craik. 

151 The Ntirnberg Stove. ByOuida. 

152 Hayne’s Speech. To which 
Webster replied. 

153 Alice’s Adventures in Won- 
derland. (Condensed.) By Lewis 

Carroll. 

154-155 Defoe’s Journal of the 
Plague. (Condensed.) 

156-157 More’s Utopia. (Con- 
densed.) 


ADDITIONAL NUMBERS ON NEXT PAGE. 



English Classic St 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


158-159 Lamb’s Essays. (Selec- 
tions.) 

160-161 Burke's Reflections on 
the French Revolution. 
162-163 Macaulay’s History of 
England, Chapter I. Complete. 
164-165-166 Prescott’s Conquest 
of Mexico. (Condensed.) 

167 Longfellow’s Voices of the 
Night, and other poems. 

168 Hawthorne’s Wonder Book. 
Selected Tales. 

169 DeQuincey’s Flight of a Tar- 
tar Tribe. Complete. 

170-171-172 George Eliot’s Silas 
Marner. Complete. 

173 Ruskin’s King of the Golden 
River, and Dame Wiggins of 
Lee and her Seven Wonderful 
Cats. 

174-175 Irving's Tales of a Trav- 
eler. 

176 Ruskin’s Of Kings* Treasuries. 

First half of Sesame and Lilies. 
Complete. 

177 Ruskin’s Of Queens’ Gardens. 

Second half of Sesame and Lilies. 
Complete. 

178 Macaulay’s Life of Johnson. 
179-180 Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. 
181-182-183 Wykes’s Shakespeare 

Reader. 

184 Hawthorne’s Grandfather’s 
Chair. Part I. Complete. 
185-186 Southey’s Life of Nelson. 
Condensed. 

187 Curtis’s The Public Duty of 
Educated Men. 

188-189 Hawthorne’s Twice-Told 
Tales. Selected. 

190-191 Chesterfield’s Letters to 
His Son. 

192 English and American Son- 
nets. 

193 Emerson’s Self-Reliance. 

194 Emerson’s Compensation. 
195-196 Tennyson's The Princess. 
197-198 Pope’s Homer’s Iliad. 

Books I., VI., XXII., and 
XXIV. 

199 Plato’s Crito , 

200 On Ida’s A Dog of Flanders. 
201-202 Dryden’e Palamon and 

Arcite. 

203 Hawthorne’u Snow-Image, 
The Great Stone Face, Little 
DafFydowndilly. 

204 Poe’s Gold Bug. 


20 
20 
20 

0 001 907 097 9 

other *Poems. 

210 Browning’s Saul, and other 
Poems. 

211 Matthew Arnold’s Poems. 
Selected, 


New numbers will be added from 
time to time. 

Single numbers, 32 to 96 pages; 
mailing price , 12 cents per copy. 

Double numbers , 76 to 168 

pages ; mailing price , 24 cents 
per copy, 

SPECIAL NUMBERS. 

Milton's Paradise Lost. Book I. 

Cloth. Mailing price , 30 cents. 
Milton’s Paradise Lost. Books I. 
and II. Cloth. Mailing price , 40 
cents. < 

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. 
The Prologue. Cloth. Mailing 
price , 36 cents. 

Chaucer’s The Squieres Tale. 

Cloth. Mailing price, 35 cents. 
Chaucer’s The Knightes Tale. 

Cloth. Mailing price , 40 cents. 
Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Con- 
quer. Cloth. Mailing price, 30 
cents. 

Homer's Iliad. Books I. and VI. 

Metrical translation by George How- 
land. Cloth. Mailing price , 26 
cents. 

Homer’s Odyssey. Books I., V., 
IX., and X. Metrical translation by 
George Howland. Cloth. Mailing 
price , 25 cents. 

Horace’s The Art of Poetry. Trans- 
lated in verse by Georoe Howland. 
Cloth. Mailing price, 25 cents. 

The Story of the German Iliad, 
with Related Stories. By Mart 
E. Burt. Illustrated. Cloth. MaiU 
mg price , 50 cents. 


Special Prices to Teachers. 

Full Descriptive Catalogue sent on application. 


